PETALING JAYA: United Malacca Bhd
(UMB) expects fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production to increase in its current financial year ending April 30, 2025, due to better age profile and improvement in operational efficiency.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the oil palm cultivation firm said its priority would remained on improving labour productivity, mechanisation initiatives and cost efficiency as well as increasing oil yield.
For the first quarter ended July 31, 2024, UMB’s net profit rose to RM13.29mil from RM2.68mil in the previous corresponding period,while revenue grew to RM163.88mil from RM135.95mil a year earlier.
UMB said its Malaysian operations recorded an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) of RM39.9mil, which was 2.5 times higher than RM16.1mil in the corresponding quarter of the preceding year.
“Higher ebitda in the current quarter was mainly due to higher average crude palm oil (CPO) price of RM3,989 per tonne and palm kernel price of RM2,415 per tonne, higher FFB production by 23% or 17,870 tonnes and lower unit cost of production incurred.”
Basic earnings per share in the first quarter stood at 6.34 sen, compared with 1.28 sen previously.
Assuming CPO prices remain at the current level, UMB said it expects satisfactory results for the current financial year.
