Friday 29 Mar 2024
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PETALING JAYA (April 26): Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd foresees 2016 to be another challenging year in light of the current economic outlook, as consumer are cautious in managing their household spending post goods and services tax (GST).

Dutch Lady’s managing director Saw Chooi Lee said consumers are managing their expenses by cutting down the frequency of shopping trips and reducing shopping basket size.

"The dairy industry was also affected with consumes stretching the usage of milk products and switching to cheaper alternatives," she said in a statement released during the annual general meeting today.

“We foresee 2016 to be another challenging year in light of the current economic outlook, but we remain focused and committed to leveraging the strength of the Dutch Lady brand and quality of our product offerings, to win the hearts of our consumers,” Saw said.  

The group has exceeded the RM1 billion revenue mark for the second year running, despite the tougher operating environment and weak consumer sentiment in financial year ended Dec 31, 2015.

The group’s profit expanded 28.35% to RM140.98 million, from RM109.84 million in FY14, buoyed by lower dairy raw material prices, but partially offset by the impact of weak ringgit.

For the first quarter ended March 31, 2016 (1QFY16), the group’s profit almost doubled to RM45.8 million, driven by higher revenue and favourable dairy raw material prices.

On Feb 23, the group announced a single-tier interim dividend of RM0.50 per ordinary share of RM1.00 each, and a single-tier special interim dividend of 60 sen per share in respect of the financial year ending Dec 31, 2016.

The payment amounts to RM70.4 million, and will be paid out in May.

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