This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on September 14, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: It seems the winds of change have blown regularly on the leadership of FGV Holdings Bhd ever since it was listed on Bursa Malaysia in June 2012.

Datuk Zakaria Arshad, whom the board has already suspended twice, is the third chief executive officer (CEO) in six years. He succeeded Datuk Mohd Emir Mavani Abdullah for the role shortly after the latter’s two-year contract expired in July 2015.

The duo were preceded by Datuk Sabri Ahmad, whose contract expired in July 2013.

Meanwhile, Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad, the first chairman, was removed in June last year. Three months later in September, FGV confirmed that Datuk Wira Azhar Abdul Hamid would be replacing him.

The changes in board and management, however, seem not to have saved FGV from the declining earnings over the years. The group’s annual net profit slid from a peak of RM982.25 million in its financial year ended Dec 31, 2013 (FY13) to RM31.47 million in FY16. In FY17, however, its annual profit grew by fourfold to RM143.73 million.

The group’s cash balance has also been on a declining streak, falling from a peak of RM5.69 billion in FY12 to just RM1.75 billion in FY17. This followed an acquisition spree under former CEO Mohd Emir, who oversaw the RM628 million purchase of Asian Plantations Ltd and the initiation of talks for the acquisition of a 37% stake in PT Eagle High Plantations Tbk from Indonesia’s PT Rajawal Corpora.

In 2016, FGV also spent its cash to acquire luxury condominiums of The Troika in Kuala Lumpur City Centre.

Unfortunately, the winds seem only to have been blowing in one direction for the group’s share price as well. At the time of its listing, FGV had been the second largest initial public offering in the world after Facebook. However, while Facebook’s share price has more than tripled, FGV’s has lost a staggering 65.4%, or RM2.91, to RM1.54 yesterday, compared with its initial public offering price of RM4.45.