However, it has not identified any suitable target at the moment.
"For now, we will just concentrate on our core businesses, which are the marine product manufacturing and integrated livestock farming. No acquisition has been planned for the moment," QL managing director Chia Song Kun said after the company's AGM here today.
While the group was not ruling out further acquisition of plantation land in Indonesia, QL would, for the time being, focus on planting its existing oil palm plantation land of 20,000 acres (8,093.7 hectares) in Tarakan, Kalimantan.
Chia was clarifying a report in The Edge weekly that the company was seeking expansion via acquisition of poultry farms in Indonesia and Vietnam as well as by increasing its oil palm plantation land in Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Among the major expenses that QL had planned for its fiscal year ending March 31, 2010 (FY10) is a RM30 million-RM40 million allocation for work on its poultry farms in Vietnam.
Its integrated livestock division has been allocated RM90 million for upgrading of plants and regional M&A activities while the plantation division is expected to see a total of RM110 million in capital expenditure for the next two years.
According to Chai, the marine products manufacturing division will see further expansion including the upgrading of its surimi (semi-processed raw fish paste) processing plant in Surabaya, Indonesia and new deep sea vessels. About RM40 million has been allocated for these purposes.
QL posted a higher net profit of RM22.33 million in 1QFY10, up 3.6% from RM21.54 million a year earlier. The plantation division saw a 41% decline in sales year-on-year, mainly due to lower selling price of crude palm oil (CPO) which averaged RM2,423 per tonne, 31% lower compared with RM3,487 a year earlier.
However, its integrated livestock division continued to perform well, registering a 44% jump in gross profit to RM16.1 million while revenue rose 18% to RM217.91 million.
QL attributed the good performance to higher farm produce prices, contribution from newly acquired poultry units and better profit margin from raw material trade.
The company is optimistic that it could maintain its dividend payout of 20% to 30% of net profit this year.
As at June 30, 2009, QL held cash and cash equivalents of RM70.16 million compared with RM18.27 million a year earlier.
Chia said QL was on track to register double-digit growth in earnings for FY10, in line with analysts' consensus of 5% to 15% increase in profit for the group.
"This optimism stems from the fact that the company has managed to emerged from the challenging period in the last quarter rather unscathed," Chia added.