KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 18): Sime Darby Plantation (SDP) expects its impact report submission to the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to be completed in the first quarter of 2022, to lift the Withhold Release Order (WRO) imposed on them since December 2020.
The group is also implementing environmental, social & governance (ESG) policies to comply with current standards.
Speaking to reporters and analysts at its quarterly results briefing on Friday (Feb 18), SDP chief financial officer (CFO) Renaka Ramachandran said the group’s engagement with the CBP is progressing well and that the plantation group has completed the reimbursement of RM38.55 million to its current and former workers on Thursday (Feb 17).
According to Renaka, the reimbursements which were paid in a single lump sum to qualified SDP workers were verified by independent third-party auditors.
“As far as the US CBP engagement is concerned, that engagement continues. Basically, the next step is to submit our report and the entire dossier to the CBP.
“A critical item that will be submitted would be the impact report, which is at its tail-end and hence, we expect to submit the report sometime in the first quarter [of 2022],” she said.
Renaka added that following the report submission, CBP will be reviewing the report and SDP will continue to engage the US authorities to lift the WRO.
In addition to the CBP engagement and reimbursement, Renaka highlighted that SDP has been working with recruitment agents who comply with ethical standards and practices, setting up a fortnightly social dialogue between its management and the workers’ representatives, as well as introducing an ESG scorecard for its upstream operating units, which carries an equal weightage with its operational scorecard.
This comes after a WRO was issued to SDP on Dec 16, 2020, which gives an importer up to three months to prove that there are no indications of forced labour, and is even given an option to re-export the goods brought into the US.
The WRO issued in Dec 2020 was for palm oil, including all crude palm oil and palm kernel oil and derivative products, made wholly or in part with palm oil traceable to SDP.
Despite SDP’s cooperation with the CBP, the plantation group was issued a notice of finding — which enables the US authorities to seize the importer’s goods upon entry into the US — on Jan 27, 2022.
At market close on Friday, SDP shares were half sen or 1.02% lower at RM4.86, giving the plantation group a market capitalisation of RM33.61 billion, based on 6.92 billion outstanding shares.
It currently trades at 14.46 earnings, while its total dividend of 22.41 sen translates into a dividend yield of 4.17%, based on Bloomberg data. Year to date, the plantation counter has appreciated RM1.03 or 26.82% from RM3.84.