The Star Online (23/11/2017) - PETALING JAYA: Genting Plantations Bhd’s net profit dropped 18.7% to RM76.51mil for the third quarter ended Sept 30 compared to the previous corresponding quarter.

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Revenue was up 8.2% to RM429.36mil from RM396.67mil a year ago.

This translated to a lower basic earnings per share of 9.64 sen from 12.03 sen previously. For the nine-month period, Genting Plantations’ net profit was up 47.7% to RM220.01mil from RM148.97mil on a higher revenue of RM1.28bil from RM966.67mil previously.

The company told Bursa Malaysia yesterday that revenue for the current quarter improved year-on-year (y-o-y), mainly due to higher fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production from Indonesia, apart from the higher sales of refined palm products.

“Collectively, these improvements more than compensated for the lower FFB production from the plantation-Malaysia segment, as well as a lower revenue recognition from the property segment,” Genting Plantations said.

The plantation firm said year-to-date, all segments with the exception of the property division posted a higher revenue y-o-y, mainly driven by FFB production, stronger palm product selling prices, higher sales of biodiesel and refined palm products.

“The group’s higher y-o-y FFB production in the third quarter of 2017 and the first nine months of the year was underpinned by the recovery from the adverse effects of El Nino, which had impacted production in 2016.

“This was also due to the addition of new areas coming into maturity and existing mature areas moving into high-yielding brackets for the Indonesian operations,” Genting Plantations noted.

The group achieved a crude palm oil price of RM2,617 per tonne during the quarter, while year-to-date, it registered a higher selling price of RM2,770 per tonne.