United Malacca's Q1 profit up 87.1% to RM6.33 million

PETALING JAYA: United Malacca Bhd's net profit jumped 87.1% to RM6.33 million for the first quarter ended July 31, 2017 against RM3.38 million in the previous corresponding period, thanks to the absence of forex losses.
It incurred forex losses of RM5.39 million in the first quarter last year.
Excluding the foreign exchange impact, the group's pretax profit would have been RM8.46 million, which was 23% lower compared with RM11.01 million in the corresponding quarter of the preceding year. Lower profit was mainly due to lower fresh fruit bunches (FFB) yield of 3.33 tonne/ha, especially from the newly matured 2,961 hectares of oil palms in Indonesia that came into harvesting at the beginning of the current financial year.
United Malacca's first-quarter revenue rose 29.7% from RM54.22 million to RM70.29 million.
The plantation firm said in a filing with the stock exchange that it expects higher FFB production for the financial year ending April 30, 2018 due to improved FFB yield from the young matured palms and an additional 4,640 hectares coming into maturity.
"Assuming CPO (crude palm oil) prices remain at the current level, the group expects satisfactory results for the financial year ending April 30, 2018," it noted.
The counter was up by 12 sen to close at RM6.78 on Tuesday, with some 116,200 shares changing hands.