KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 — IJM Plantations Bhd’s net profit surged 423.4 per cent to RM205.08 million in the financial year ended March 31, 2021 (FY21) compared with a loss of RM63.42 million in the preceding year.
This is the company’s best-ever results in terms of revenue and net profit since its venture into the oil palm plantation industry in 1985.
Revenue rose 26.6 per cent to RM935.69 million from RM739.13 million previously on the back of favourable palm commodity prices and higher crude palm oil (CPO) volume sold, it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.
“Despite the trying weather impacts and challenging operating conditions due to the pandemic, total crop production totalled above one million tonnes for the second consecutive year to close the year at 1,064,678 tonnes, net of its replanting in Sabah,” it said.
The Indonesian operations experienced a crop production lagged effect from moisture stress that arose from adverse dry weather conditions and subsequently by the continuous high rainfall in many of the estates last year, it said.
For the fourth quarter (Q4) ended March 31, 2021, the company’s net profit increased by 175.2 per cent to RM57.42 million against a loss of RM76.39 million in Q4 FY20, while revenue was up by 26.1 per cent to RM246.38 million from RM195.39 million in the corresponding quarter last year.
For the next financial year, IJM said it estimated its CPO price sensitivity at around RM23 million in profitability for every RM100 per tonne movement in CPO price.
Chief executive officer and managing director Joseph Tek Choon Yee said the bullish palm oil price in FY21 was influenced by an interplay of numerous factors.
“All these intertwined price-positive factors are set against the backdrop of growing optimism in anticipating demand building up to post-Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
The company has taken cognisance that many analysts are expecting the buoyant CPO price trend to sustain only until the middle of 2021 before the price starts to ease.
“It is possible that the current bullish run may not be sustainable as the seasonal crop production momentum picks up in the second half of the year,” he added.
Meanwhile, IJM Plantations has declared a dividend of 10 sen per share for Q4 FY2021.
At the close of trading today, the company’s share price closed unchanged at RM1.88 with 838,800 shares changing hands. — Bernama
