Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (April 24): United Plantations Bhd’s share price rose amid optimism on the counter after it announced positive first quarter results and that it has sufficient liquidity and capital resources to weather the impact of Covid-19.

At 3.31pm, the counter was up 30 sen or 1.18% at RM25.82, giving it a market capitalisation of RM5.38 billion.

In a filing with the exchange yesterday, United Plantations had warned that there remains a risk that its estate operations, which have been allowed to operate during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period, may be forced to shut down as the pandemic continues to spread.

It pointed out that some plantations in East Malaysia have already been forced to temporarily shut down due to infections among their workers, which could lead to sizeable production losses.

However, the company said it is confident to face the challenging conditions.

“With United Plantations’ liquidity and conservative capital resources, we are confident that United Plantations will be able to weather this Covid-19 storm without having to impair any major assets,” it said.

For the first quarter ended March 31, 2020, the company’s net profit rose 21% to RM81.19 million from RM66.92 million a year earlier, amid higher average selling prices for crude palm oil and palm kernel, as well as lower operating expenses and higher other operating income.

Revenue for the quarter, however, fell 1% to RM318.91 million from RM322.26 million, due to lower contribution from the refinery segment.

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