KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 24): Integrated poultry farmer Lay Hong Bhd saw its net profit jump 34.3% to RM5.19 million in its first financial quarter ended June 30, 2020 (1QFY21) from RM3.86 million a year ago, on higher revenue.

This resulted in a higher earnings per share of 0.79 sen for 1QFY21 compared with 0.59 sen for 1QFY20.

Revenue for 1QFY21 also grew 17.8% to RM238.19 million from RM202.22 million a year ago, as both food manufacturing and retail business recorded an increase in revenue by 6.64% and 16.14% respectively during the current quarter.

In a bourse filing today, Lay Hong attributed the revenue increase to higher demand from customers following the imposition of the movement control order in March.
 
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Lay Hong said it will remain cautious on the market and will continuously assess the business condition.

"However, we expect foreign exchange volatility will have an impact to the company’s feed cost which is transacted in the US dollars.

Lay Hong’s shares closed up one sen or 3.08% at 33.5 sen today, bringing a market capitalisation of RM221.2 million. A total of 2.24 million shares were traded. The stock has been trading between 16 sen and 53 sen over the past year.

(Editing by Kang Siew Li)