KUALA LUMPUR (May 27): Poultry farmer Lay Hong Bhd registered a 26% decline in net profit to RM3.72 million year-on-year (y-o-y) in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015 (4QFY15), compared with RM5.04 million last year.

However, Lay Hong, in which QL Resources Bhd has been accumulating shares, reported its pre-tax profit was higher by 24% during the quarter, after it rose to RM5.7 million, from RM4.59 million a year ago. This was due to higher productivity and higher poultry product prices, coupled with stable raw material prices.

Revenue for the quarter stood at RM171.53 million, 15.8% higher than the RM148.07 million achieved in same period last year.

For the full financial year, Lay Hong’s net profit jumped 150% to RM17.87 million, from RM7.16 million recorded last year. This came on the back of 16% improvement in revenue in FY15, growing from RM579.22 million last year to RM671.7 million.

Earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter contracted to 7.34 sen, from 10.13 sen. However, EPS for FY15 more than doubled in FY15 to 35.6 sen, from 14.38 sen last year.

Lay Hong’s (fundamental: 0.75; valuation: 0.8) share price closed at RM3.34 today, up 4 sen or 1.21%, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM171.78 million.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)