KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): MISC Bhd's third-quarter (3Q) net profit slipped 2.93% to RM258.3 million from RM266.1 million a year earlier on lower revenue from liquefied natural gas (LNG) and petroleum shipping and as the group's income from offshore oil and gas support services fell.

Despite the lower net profit, MISC declared a dividend of seven sen a share for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2020 (3QFY20), according to the company's Bursa Malaysia filing today.

MISC said 3QFY20 group revenue fell to RM2.06 billion from RM2.15 billion.

"After an exceptional performance in the first half, the petroleum shipping segment was affected by lower freight rates mainly due to the impact of the pandemic on global oil demand as well as seasonal factors.

"For the LNG business segment, the majority of vessels are on long-term time charter and the charter contracts remain intact. However, there were some off-hire days due to the pandemic which resulted in lower revenue in the current quarter," MISC said.

For the first nine months of FY20, MISC said it slipped into a cumulative net loss of RM599 million from a net profit of RM1.18 billion a year earlier.

This was despite revenue climbing to RM6.76 billion from RM6.59 billion.

Looking ahead, the group said it will continue to focus on completing ongoing projects, optimising operating expenditure and pursuing growth prospects to ensure resilience and sustainability of its business operations while remaining vigilant against the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The group has remained vigilant and continuously implemented all necessary Covid-19 mitigation measures in accordance with standard operating procedures issued by the Ministry of Health Malaysia and regulators of home countries where we operate such as social distancing at work, workplace segregation, staggered work hours and lunch breaks, flexible working arrangements including working from home, virtual meetings, temperature checks and regular workplace sanitisation," MISC said.

In a separate Bursa filing, MISC said the ex date for the tax-exempt dividend of seven sen a share is Dec 2, 2020 while the payment date is Dec 15, 2020.

At Bursa's 12.30pm break today, MISC's share price settled down 10 sen or 1.32% at RM7.50, which values the group at some RM33.39 billion. The stock saw 147,100 shares traded.