by ANIS HAZIM / pic by Muhd Amin Naharul

SIME Darby Plantation Bhd’s net profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2022 (4Q22) rose 20.34% to RM562 million from RM467 million a year earlier, mainly driven by lower non-recurring loss and lower tax charges.

In a Bursa Malaysia filing last Friday, the plantation group said revenue for the quarter rose 2.16% to RM5.67 billion in 4Q22 from RM5.55 billion in the same period last year.

Its earnings per share rose to 8.1 sen from 6.8 sen previously.

The group declared a final dividend of 6.04 sen per share for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2022 (FY22), to be paid on May 15.

For FY22, Sime Darby Plantation’s net profit rose 10.22% to RM2.48 billion from RM2.25 billion a year ago, underpinned by a 12.52% increase in revenue to RM21.03 billion from RM18.69 billion in FY21.

Reviewing its performance, the group in a separate statement said that its fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production last year was particularly challenged in Malaysia, though it was partially compensated by better production in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

“For three years, we were tested in ways we could never have imagined. First, it was the pandemic, movement controls, and the acute labour shortage, and then it was the finding by the the United States Customs and Border Protection that there were forced labour indicators present in our Malaysian operations,” said its group MD Mohamad Helmy Othman Basha.

On the outlook for FY23, the group expects the crude palm oil prices to hold at current levels for 1Q23, on the back of continued strong demand.

“With the arrival of more foreign workers into Malaysia, particularly harvesters, the group expects the FFB production in Malaysia to improve in 2023 after a challenging two years,” it said.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the group expects to perform satisfactorily in FY23.

At the time of writing, shares in Sime Darby Plantation were up one sen or 0.23% at RM4.36, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM30.22 billion.