31/05/2011 (The Star) - CB Industrial Product Holding Bhd, is bidding for contracts for the construction of modipalm mills worth RM400mil in the local and overseas markets.

Managing director Lim Chai Beng (pic) said the contacts were from various countries including Indonesia, Africa and Papua New Guinea. The company’s order book stood at about RM400mil with 60% of the contracts from overseas.

“The new contracts we are bidding for will be a combination of new modipalm mills and the replacement of the older mills,” he told a press conference after the company AGM yesterday. Its wholly-owned unit - Modipalm Engineering Sdn Bhd - has recently secured a RM32.28mil contract to build a palm oil mill in Sabah.

On its earnings prospects for the financial year (FY) ending Dec 31, 2011, Lim said the full-fledged turnkey contractor for palm oil mills, aimed to register a double-digit growth in its net profit, riding on the favourable crude palm oil (CPO) prices and the demand for new mills.

“CPO price is not within our control but the demand for CPO and the pricing of CPO are favouring us,” he said.

For FY10, the company registered a net profit of RM67.8mil which was 60% higher than in FY09. Its revenue for FY10 was RM351.4mil.

“If there is opportunity, we would like to expand our plantation land. Most of our plantations are located in Sarawak now.”

The company is also planning to spend RM20mil for its capital expenditure this year, mainly for the cultivation in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

For the first quarter ended March 31, 2011, CB Industrial registered a net profit of RM21.9mil, which was 80% higher than the RM12.2mil posted in the same period last year. Its revenue for the first quarter was RM92.3mil.

The company said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday that the increase in revenue and profit was mainly attributed to the improvement in the plantation segment.