KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 25): Heineken Malaysia Bhd is taking a cautious view on the outlook for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2021 (FY21), on possibility that the highly infectious Delta variant of Covid-19 may erode consumer confidence and affect the brewer’s recovery path ahead.
“Although there has been relaxation in terms of operations and all that, still, with the Delta variant, we are very concerned about all these clusters. (Hence,) We will have to move very cautiously," its managing director Roland Bala told a virtual media and analyst briefing to announce its second-quarter (2QFY21) financial results this evening.
“Although the government has started to open up restaurants (allowing fully vaccinated people to dine-in), people are a lot more cautious this time around,” he said.
Roland said the cautious outlook also takes into account 11 weeks of disruption in Heineken Malaysia's operations from June to August this year, due to the Full Movement Control Order (FMCO) imposed nationwide and restrictions imposed on food and beverage outlets during the period.
“As a leader of this company, what I can do is (to ensure that the company) remains agile in terms of logistics and very prudent in terms of our cost and cash management,” he noted.
Heineken Malaysia posted a net profit of RM25.27 million in 2QFY21, versus a net loss of RM18.19 million a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter rose 37.71% to RM 349.42 million, from RM253.74 million in 2QFY20.
For the cumulative six-month period (1HFY21), net profit soared 154.86% to RM98.81 million from RM38.77 million a year earlier, while revenue expanded 16.57% to RM897.16 million from RM769.63 million.
Roland attributed the improved performance in 2QFY21 to easing of restrictions and the group's strong focus on cost savings, which mitigated the impact of the FMCO and the suspension of its brewery operations.
The group declared an interim dividend of 15 sen per share for FY21, payable on Nov 18.
It had paid out dividends amounting to 94 sen, 108 sen and 51 sen in FY18, FY19 and FY20 respectively.
Heineken Malaysia’s share price closed down six sen or 0.27% at RM22.50 today, bringing a market capitalisation of RM6.8 billion. The stock saw 67,200 shares traded.