Malaysia's Felda Posts 64.8% on Year Drop in 2Q Net Profit

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia--Malaysian palm-oil producer, Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd. (5222.KU), on Wednesday posted a 64.8% on-year drop in its second quarter net profit, partly due to higher cost of sales, lower operating income and higher administrative expenses.

Net profit for the April-June period at the world's third-largest palm plantation operator declined to 25.91 million ringgit (US$6.07 million) from MYR73.69 million in the same period a year ago, according to a local stock exchange filing.

Revenue climbed slightly to MYR4.22 billion during the quarter from MYR4.14 billion a year ago.

Felda Global said its board expects performance for the financial year ending Dec. 31, 2017 to be satisfactory barring unforeseen circumstances and the expected sustainable crude palm-oil prices.

The company in a press statement said it expects fresh fruit bunches production for the second half to improve further on increased productivity resulting from higher output of crops and consolidated efforts to overcome shortage of plantation workers.

It will continue its effort to consolidate by-products business such as palm kernel shell, sludge oil, biomass and biogas and expects an additional revenue of more than MYR60 million per annum from export and local markets, it added.

Felda Global had recently undertaken a management shake-up after it disclosed the suspension of senior executives including former group president and chief executive, Zakaria Arshad, to facilitate an investigation into a transaction of one of its subsidiaries.

Shares of Felda Global were unchanged at midday break at MYR1.60 per share prior to the earnings release. The stock has climbed some 3% year-to-date.

-Write to Yantoultra Ngui at yantoultra.ngui@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 30, 2017 02:12 ET (06:12 GMT)