This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on March 1, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: PPB Group Bhd, controlled by the Kuok Group, saw net profit fall 24% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM375.93 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2017 (4QFY17) from RM496.03 million, on lower contributions from the grains and agribusiness, consumer products and property segments.

This was offset by significant growth in the film exhibition and distribution segment, which saw profit rise y-o-y to RM11.7 million from RM1.4 million, primarily due to foreign exchange translation gains and more blockbuster movies released.

Quarterly revenue grew 11%  y-o-y to RM1.14 billion from RM1.02 billion, with growth seen in all major business segments. It declared a final dividend of 22 sen per share for FY17, payable on May 31.

For FY17, net profit rose 15% y-o-y  to RM1.21 billion from RM1.04 billion, as revenue grew 3% to RM4.31 billion from RM4.19 billion.

In a Bursa Malaysia filing, PPB said the better FY17 performance was due to its main associate Wilmar International Ltd, which posted a net profit rise of some 26% to US$1.23 billion from US$980 million in FY16.

For FY18, PPB expects its financial results to continue to be supported by Wilmar’s performance.