KUALA LUMPUR (May 22): Sime Darby Bhd has come out to say that it's unlikely to meet its headline key performance indicator (KPI) target of RM2.5 billion net profit for the financial year ending June 30, 2015 (FY15) and has revised down its projection.

Sime Darby president and group chief executive Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh said the group is hoping to close FY15 with RM2 billion to RM2.1 billion in net profit.

"The net profit achieved for the cumulative 10 months (until end of April) was RM1.5 billion," he told a media briefing to announce the group's third quarter financial results today.

"So, it is impossible for us to get (another) RM1 billion over the next two months," he added.

Bakke said Sime Darby (fundamental: 1; valuation: 1.1) is also unlikely to meet its KPI target of a 8.5% return on equity for FY15.

The group's net profit fell 54.7% to RM386.04 million for the third financial quarter ended March 31, 2015 (3QFY15) from RM852.53 million a year ago, as commodity prices continued to remain soft.

Its net profit for the nine months period was 38.7% lower at RM1.32 billion from RM2.16 billion a year ago.

(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.)