KUALA LUMPUR: Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd saw a 32% drop in its net profit to RM28.5 million for its third quarter of financial year 2014 ended Sept 30 (3QFY14) from RM42.3 million a year ago, due to lower sales coupled with reduced margins as prices of dairy-based commodities rose during the quarter.

Revenue for 3QFY14 fell 9% to RM240.5 million from RM263.8 million in 3QFY13. Earnings per share (EPS) fell to 44.6 sen compared with 66.05 sen a year ago.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, the group attributed the lower revenue for 3QFY14 to “lower volume sales in a competitive market environment and less robust consumer confidence”.

For the nine months period of FY14 (9MFY14), Dutch Lady’s net profit declined 28% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM75.9 million from RM105.9 million, while revenue rose 2% y-o-y to RM736.4 million from RM719.7 million. EPS for 9MFY14 stood at 118.6 sen compared with 165.4 sen a year ago.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 26, 2014.