KUALA LUMPUR: Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd
is temporarily closing a naphtha cracking plant, Naphtha Cracker Number 1, from Dec 15, 2024, as it attempts to mitigate losses from a prolonged downturn.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the group, which has faced negative margins over the last two years, said it is loading down operations.
It said Naphtha Cracker Number 1, which has a nameplate capacity of 430,000 tonnes per annum, will resume operations when market conditions become more favourable.
"With the shutdown of Naphtha Cracker Number 1, the company’s operating guidance for all its plants in Malaysia and Indonesia for 2024 is between 55% to 60%," it said.
The group said the guidance may change from time to time and it will provide updates on future developments.
Lotte Chemical Titan reported a wider net loss of RM246.42mil in its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2024, as compared to a net loss of RM55.58mil in the year-ago quarter.
The group's revenue, however, was just slightly lower at RM1.95bil in 3Q as compared to RM1.96bil in the previous corresponding quarter.
It attributed the weaker bottomline to changes in the writedown of inventories to its net realisable value, increased losses from foreign exchange and higher share of losses from associate company Lotte Chemical USA Corp due to a maintenance shutdown.
Over the nine months period, the group registered a net loss of RM673.33mil on revenue of RM5.64bil against a net loss of RM593.81mil on revenue of RM5.79bil in 9MFY24.
Lotte Chemical Titan's share price ended 1.5 sen or 2.33% lower on Friday at 63 sen after 4.13 million shares done.
