KUALA LUMPUR (March 5): IOI Corporation Bhd (IOI Corp), which is principally involved in oil palm cultivation, mainly in Malaysia and Indonesia, has declared a special dividend of 11.5 sen per share for its financial year ending June 30, 2018 (FY18).

The group is also involved in resource-based manufacturing businesses comprising refineries, oleochemicals and specialty oils and fats.

IOI Corp said the dividend will be paid on March 30, with the ex-date on March 16 this year, according to its filing with Bursa Malaysia today.

IOI Corp’s net profit in its second quarter ended Dec 31, 2017 (2QFY18) skyrocketed over 37 times to RM595.9 million from RM15.6 million previously, thanks to fair value gain on derivative financial instruments and foreign exchange (forex) gains on foreign currency-denominated borrowings.

The group declared an interim dividend of 4.5 sen per share, with an ex-date of March 16 this year, and payable on March 30, according to a filing by the company on Feb 23.

Quarterly revenue fell 4.26% to RM2.4 billion in 2QFY18, from RM2.51 billion a year ago.

In the first half of FY18 (1HFY18), the group's net profit jumped more than seven times to RM955.9 million, from RM120.4 million in a previous corresponding period, despite revenue falling 4.78% to RM4.61 billion, from RM4.84 billion over the same period.

At midday break today, IOI Corp fell one sen or 0.21% to RM4.78, giving it a market capitalisation of RM30.04 billion.