25/04/2012 (The Star) - TH Plantation Bhd's earnings fell 40.1% to RM13.06mil in the first quarter ended March 31 from RM21.83mil a year ago as its profitability was affected by higher production costs.

It said on Tuesday its revenue rose 26.6% to RM95.04mil from RM75.05mil while earnings per share were 2.53 sen compared with 4.36 sen.

TH Plantations said 94.71% of its revenue of RM95.04mil was contributed by plantation operations segment. The higher revenue was mainly due to higher sales volume of crude palm oil, palm kernel and fresh fruit bunches despite lower average commodity selling prices realised.

Its pre-tax profit fell 18% to RM25.10mil from RM30.67mil due to higher production costs. It said 25% of the annual fertiliser budget for the current year was spent as compared to 21% for same quarter last year.

Another factor was the higher labour cost due to labour/assistance and general charges cost, due to incentive payment of RM200 per month for eligible workers.