KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 20): Petronas Dagangan Bhd (PetDag), the marketing arm of Petroliam Nasional Bhd, saw its net profit rise 27.8% to RM314.42 million in the second quarter ended June 30, 2018 (2QFY18) from RM246.04 million a year ago, mainly due to higher margin which resulted from increasing Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) price trend, lower product and freight costs, as well as an increase in other income arising from insurance proceeds claim received by a subsidiary.

This was partially offset by higher advertising and promotion expenses.

This resulted in a higher earnings per share of 31.6 sen for 2QFY18 compared with 24.8 sen for 2QFY17.

Quarterly revenue also grew 10% to RM7.28 billion from RM6.62 billion in 2QFY17, mainly contributed by an increase in MOPS product prices.

The group also declared an interim dividend of 16 sen per share for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2018, payable on Sept 19.

For the cumulative six months (1HFY18), the group's net profit rose 6.8% to RM532.9 million from RM499.2 million a year ago, while revenue increased 7.1% to RM14.35 billion from RM13.39 billion in 1HFY17.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, PetDag warned that the continued volatility of oil price, economic and consumer sentiment will have an impact on the group's profitability.

In a separate statement. PetDag managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin said moving forward, the group will continue its efforts to defend our market leadership position in both commercial and liquefied petroleum gas segments.

"For retail business, we are focused on innovating our strategies to reinvent the fuel retailing business through smarter collaborations and digital transformation in delivering superior customer experience. We will also be focusing on growing our non-fuel business," he added.

PetDag shares closed unchanged at RM26.90 today, for a market capitalisation of RM26.72 billion.