KUALA LUMPUR: Kim Loong Resources Bhd
is expecting to achieve a satisfactory performance for its 2024 financial year.
In a stock exchange filing, the group said it forecasts fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production in the current financial year ending Jan 31, 2024, to be 15% higher than in the previous year, owing to more replanted area coming into maturity and the better age profile of young palm productive area.
In its palm oil milling operations, the management expects to achieve a total processing throughput of 1.5 million tonnes of FFB for the current financial year.
It also expects the biogas plant at Telupid, which commenced supply of power to grid in December 2023, to contribute positively to revenue as well as profit from 2025 onwards.
With regards to crude palm oil (CPO) price prospects, the group is hopeful for the average CPO price for FY24 to stay above RM3,800 per tonne.
In the third quarter ended Oct 31, 2023, Kim Loong registered a net profit of RM47.97mil, up from RM36.74mil in the same quarter in 2022, representing a basic earnings per share of 4.95 sen as compared to 3.8 sen previously.
The group reported revenue of RM448.68mil against RM402.41mil in 3QFY23.
Year-to-date, Kim Loong's net profit was RM122.84mil as compared to RM125.64mil in 9MFY23, while revenue was RM1.16bil as compared to RM1.48bil in the year-ago period.
"The drop in performance for the current financial year-to-date was mainly due to a sharp decline in both average selling prices of FFB and CPO by 27%.
"However, the FFB production for the current year-to-date was higher by 19% as compared to the corresponding period last year whilst the CPO production was marginally lower," said Kim Loong.
In line with the performance, the board of directors declared a dividend of three sen per share, payable on Feb 22, 2024.
