Boustead Plantations shares fall slightly after land buy

PETALING JAYA: Boustead Plantations Bhd's share price fell slightly by 0.61% this morning, after announcing that it is buying 42 parcels of land totalling 11,579.31ha in Labuk and Sugut, Sabah, from Dutaland Bhd for RM750 million.
At 10.23am, the stock stood at RM1.62 with 216,300 shares changing hands. Its market capitalisation stood at RM2.59 billion.
Dutaland, which was among the top active counters, plunged 4.79% to 69.5 sen with 16.24 million shares changing hands.
Boustead Plantations said the proposed acquisition is part of its strategy to acquire more plantation land in Malaysia in view of the scarcity of suitable and sizeable land banks for oil palm cultivation, at a lower cost.
Among the measures planned are progressive replanting of old and low-yielding fields and the construction of a new palm oil mill in one of the estates.