Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 19): Both AirAsia Bhd and its associate AirAsia X Bhd would hog the limelight no thanks to their poor earnings performance in the third quarter ended Sept 30.

AirAsia announced that its net profit shrinked 85% to RM5.4 million for its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2014, from RM35.48 million in the year before, dragged by the losses posted by its associate companies.

Based on the budget airline’s quarterly financial report submitted to Bursa Malaysia today, its associates companies registered a loss of RM17.2 million, as compared to a profit of RM13.95 million in 3QFY13.

On top of that, the group’s profit was also knocked by RM10.45 million in deferred taxation, where deferred tax liabilities had overrun deferred tax assets.

Meanwhile, the group registered revenue of RM1.3 billion for the quarter under review, 3% higher than RM1.28 billion in previous corresponding quarter.

AirAsia share price rose four sen to RM2.46, bringing its market capitalisation to RM6.85 billion.

AirAsia financial results was announced after the market close. However, its associate AirAsia X share price was bogged down heavy selling in the afternoon after its release of the third quarter losses.

Selling pressure emerged on the long haul low cost carrier announced that it posted  net loss of RM210.9 million for the third quarter ended Sep 30, 2014 (3Q14), compared with net profit of RM26.4 million in the previous corresponding quarter a year ago.

For the nine-month period, AAX registered a net loss of RM350.92 million. Its basic loss per share sunk 8.9 sen.

AAX’s financial performance  recently made headlines after The Edge Financial Daily reported that the company is having trouble paying wages and allowances for staff.

MPHB Capital Bhd net profit rose 38.4% to RM17.8 million in its third quarter ended Sep 30, 2014(3QFY14), from RM12.85 million in 3QFY13.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, MPHB said the higher profit was due to gains from fair value changes in investment securities as well as better underwriting and investment income from its insurance division.

Revenue for 3QFY14 rose 15.3% to RM90.82 million, from RM78.75 million in 3QFY13, on better performance of its insurance division.

For the nine months ended Sep 30, 2014 (9MFY14), MPHB’s net profit grew to RM225.2 million, eight times more than its net profit of RM27.26 million achieved in the previous corresponding quarter, mainly on exceptional gain from the disposal of investment properties by its investment division, and higher gain from fair value changes in investment securities of its credit division.

Revenue for 9MFY14 also grew by 70% to RM269.38 million compared to RM158.8 million in the same period a year ago.

Third quarter earnings per share (EPS) was lower at 2.49 sen per share compared with 2.64 sen per share in 3QFY13), while EPS for 9MFY14 was higher at 31.5 sen per share against 5.6 sen per share a year ago.

MPHB share price dropped four sen or 1.7% to RM2.34 today, giving rise to a market capitalisation of RM1.69 billion.

Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) saw its net profit dropping 33.8% to RM170.8 million in the fourth quarter ended Sept 30, 2014, from RM258 million in the previous corresponding quarter.

The plantation giant blamed the weaker net profit on declining palm oil prices, which had pressured its margins, resulting in negative contributions from the refineries and kernel crushing plants.

Despite that, KLK said plantations profit climbed 10.9% on the back of higher fresh fruit bunches (FFB) production, lower production cost and higher selling price of palm kernel (PK).

In a statement to the stock exchange, KLK recommended a final single tier dividend of 40 per share for the financial year ended Sept 30, 2014.

The group’s third quarter revenue jumped 15% to RM2.78 billion from RM2.41 billion a year ago.

For the full-year, net profit rose 8% to RM991.7 million versus RM917.7 million in the previous year, while revenue leapt 21.7% to RM11.13 billion from RM9.15 billion.

KLK ended down 66 sen or 2.8% to RM23.00, giving it a market capitalisation of RM24.49 billion.

TH Plantations Bhd (THP) saw a 12% fall in its net profit to RM12.1 million for its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2014, from RM15.4 million in the previous year’s corresponding quarter despite posting higher revenue.

In its filing with Bursa Malaysia, THP said that its margins were squeezed as average crude palm oil (CPO) prices were lower during the quarter, which translated to the fall in its net profit.

“The decline of commodity prices in 3Q2014 translated into a lower average CPO selling price of RM2,106 per metric tonne, 5% lower compared to the levels recorded in 3Q2013,” said THP.

Meanwhile, its quarterly revenue rose 2.4% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM133.3 million from RM130.1 million, which was attributed to higher production and sales volume of CPO, palm kernel (PK) and fresh fruit bunches (FFB).

For the year up to Sept 30, TH Plantations posted net profit of RM37.9 million, up 47% y-o-y from RM25.7 million, while revenue climbed 24% to RM390.1 million from RM315.4 million.

Its earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter fell to 1.37 sen from 1.75 sen in the year before, while its EPS for the cumulative period rose to 4.29 sen from 2.93 sen.

THP closed 0.62% higher at RM1.63, giving it a market capitalisation of RM1.44 billion.

Boustead Plantations Bhd (Boustead) recorded a net profit of RM17 million and revenue of RM162.9 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30 (3Q14), driven by higher production and increased selling prices of crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel (PK).

Boustead said the 3Q14 results were “satisfactory” and declared a second interim dividend of two sen per share, bringing the total dividend declared to four sen per share for financial year ending Dec 31, 2014.

For the nine-month period, the plantation firm registered stronger net profit of RM57.6 million, close to doubling the RM31 million it saw in the corresponding period last year. Meanwhile, revenue came in at RM550.2 million.

Earnings per share stood at 4.74 sen for the nine-month period, while net assets per share was RM1.45 as at Sept 30, 2014.

During the nine-month period, Boustead said average selling price for CPO for the first nine months rose to 6.2% to RM2,477 per tonne, from RM2,333 per ton a year ago. Average PK price was RM1,802 per ton.

Boustead’s share price closed at RM1.52, up 1 sen or 0.66%. Its market capitalisation stood at RM2.42 billion.

MAA Group Bhd saw a 61% drop in its net profit to RM9.1 million for its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2014, from RM23 million in the year before, despite posting higher revenue for the quarter.

According to its announcement to Bursa, MAA’s revenue rose 13% to RM187.9 million, from RM166.9 million in the same quarter the year before.

For 9MFY14, the group made net profit of RM11 million, compared to a net loss of RM60,000 in 9MFY13, while cumulative revenue rose to RM523.7 million from RM457.4 million.

MAA closed at 65 sen, up 1.56%, giving it a market capitalisation of RM197.3 million.

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