03/08/2012 (Bernama) - TH Plantations Bhd's net profit for first half of financial year 2012 is expected to be dampened by lower fresh fruit bunches (FFB) output in the second quarter, says Maybank Investment Bank (Maybank IB).

It said the average crude palm oil price for the second quarter this year, released by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, was flat quarter-on-quarter at RM3,218 per tonne and four per cent lower year-on-year.

"Thus, we expect TH Plant's net profit for the second quarter to be in the range of RM17-RM24 million, bringing the first-half net profit for 2012 to RM30-RM37 million, slightly lower than RM54 million last year," it said in a research note Friday.

Maybank IB said against a consensus full-year estimate of RM121 million, it expected the market to cut its earnings forecast post-second quarter results, which could result in possible price weakness in the short term.

The research house said it has cut its financial year 2012 net profit forecast for TH Plant by 16 per cent after lowering its FFB production forecast by nine per cent to 493,202 tonnes.