KUCHING: Rimbunan Sawit Bhd has bounced back with group net profit of about RM9.65 million in second quarter to June 30, 2022 (Q22022) from loss of RM37,000 in Q22021 as a result of higher production volume and sale prices of fresh fruit bunches (FFB), crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel (PK).
Group revenue surged to RM212.1 million from RM133.6 million or up by RM78.5 million or 58.8 per cent.
The company recorded earnings per share of 0.47sen in the current quarter under review.
According to Rimbunan Sawit, the group’s higher turnover in the current quarter under review was due to favourable growth in the average selling price of FFB, CPO and PK at RM1,255 per tonne (+55.9 per cent), RM6,524 per tonne (+61.6 per cent) and RM3,368 per tonne (+37.1 per cent) respectively as compared to a year ago.
Besides that, the production of FFB, CPO and PK expanded by 3.6 per cent,5.8 per cent and 5.7 per cent to 50,282 tonnes, 27,192 tonnes and 5,868 tonnes respectively during the same period of comparison.
This helped boosted the group gross profit to RM30.1 million from RM15.5 million previously.
The Q22022 financial results were significantly better than the immediate preceding quarter (Q12022) when Rimbunan Sawit recorded group net profit of RM3.86 million (Q22022:RM9.65 million) and revenue of RM160.3 million (RM212.1 million).
In Q22022, the production volume of FFB, CPO and PK rose by 25.9 per cent, 31.2 per cent and 31.2 per cent respectively from 39,940 tonnes, 20,723 tonnes and 4,471 tonnes respectively in Q12022.
The sales volume of CPO and PK also jumped by 24.7 per cent and 25.2 per cent from 21,253 tonnes and 4,432 tonnes respectively in Q12022.
While the average selling price of FFB and CPO increased by 2.4 per cent and 12.1 per cent from RM1,226 per tonne and RM5,820 per tonne in Q12021, the average selling price of PK dropped by 22 per cent to RM3,368 per tonne from RM4,318 tonnes in Q12021.
During January-June 2022 period (6m2022), Rimbunan Sawit returned to the black with group net profit of RM13.52 million, a reversal from loss of RM10.6 million, as group revenue soared to RM372.3 million from RM234.2 million or by a whopping RM138.1 million or 59 per cent.
In 6m2022, group FFB production volume dropped by 2.4 per cent to 90,222 tonnes (6m2021:92,482 tonnes), CPO production output fell marginally by 0.5 per cent to 47,915 tonnes (48,133 tonnes) while that of PK lost 0.3 per cent to 10,338 tonnes (10,365 tonnes).
Similarly, the sale volume of CPO was down one per cent to 47,751 tonnes (48,216 tonnes) while that of PK declined by 4.4 per cent to 9,981 tonnes (10,445 tonnes).
The decrease in the production and sales volumes had not, however, affected the group earnings due to the sharply higher average selling prices of FFB, CPO and PK which surged by 60.3 per cent to RM1,242 per tonne (RM775 per tonne), 62.2 per cent to RM6,211 per tonne (RM3,828 per tonne) and 59.2 per cent to RM3,790 per tonne (RM2,381 tonne).
Going forward, Rimbunan Sawit anticipates the CPO prices to remain under pressure in the near term, and to trade in the RM4,000-RM5,000 per tonne range.
“This comes amid concerns over slower global economic growth and the possibility of Indonesia shipping out higher-than-usual palm oil exports to clear stocks.
“Separately, weaker 2H22 CPO prices coupled with higher operating costs due to a hike in the minimum wage in Malaysia to RM1,500 per month effective May 1,2022,higher fertiliser costs as well as the prosperity tax, will lead to lower profit margins in 2H22 unless productivity improves,” added the company.
At the recent peak, CPO price rocketed to RM7,000 per tonne in April 2022.
Meanwhile, construction firm Zecon Bhd slipped into the red with group net loss of RM4.38 million in Q22022 from profit of RM1.62 million in Q12021 as revenue plunged to RM27.5 million from RM63.3 million previously.
Losses per share stood at 2.97sen from earnings per share of 1.13sen.
The company said the gross profit of about RM10.6 million in the current quarter was mainly contributed by the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Children Specialist Hospital and a work package from Pan Borneo Highway project.
For the remaining quarters of the current financial year, Zecon expects the two projects to continue generate revenue for the group.
