KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 25): MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd saw its net profit for the third financial quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 (3QFY15) increase by 33.2% to RM63.87 million or 9.09 sen a share from RM47.96 million or 6.82 sen a share a year ago on the back of lower raw sugar price.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, the refined sugar producer reported a 2.4% decline in 3QFY15 revenue to RM546.49 million from RM559.74 million a year ago, which was attributed to lower tonnage sold for the domestic and export markets segments by 21% and 15% respectively.

However, the negative impact was cushioned by higher sales of 46% in the industries segment, said MSM.

MSM declared a first interim dividend of 12 sen per share, payable on Dec 29.

For its nine months ended Sept 30, 2015 (9MFY15), MSM reported a net profit of RM214.04 million or 30.45 sen a share, which was 17.6% higher than its 9MFY14 net profit of RM182.05 million or 25.9 sen a share.

Revenue for 9MFY15, however, was 0.6% lower at RM1.64 billion compared to RM1.65 billion a year ago.

As for its prospects, the group said that it expected to be able to sustain its satisfactory performance notwithstanding the volatility of commodity prices.

MSM shares closed down eight sen or 1.65% today at RM4.78, with a market capitalisation of RM3.42 billion.

(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.)