Image Credit:cityplusfm.my
Driven by soaring palm oil prices, Sime Darby Plantation (SIMEPLT, 5285, a main board plantation stock) earned a net profit of RM718 million in the first quarter of FY22 (ended March 31), up 27.76% year-on-year; revenue It rose 19.28% year-on-year to RM4.381 billion.
Sime Darby Plantation said in a statement that the average selling price of crude palm oil in the first quarter was RM4,465 per metric ton, an increase of more than 40% from RM3,185 in the same period last year. Higher palm oil prices also offset the impact of lower Sime Darby Plantation Palm Fruit Bunch (FFB) production.
Sime Darby
Sime Darby was founded in 1910 by a British businessman, initially involved in the rubber plantation industry in British Malacca, and later diversified into palm oil plantation, industrial equipment trading, auto dealerships, and real estate.
In 2007, the three major plantation groups in Malaysia, namely Sime Darby, Golden Hope and Kumpulan Guthrie, merged into the world's largest listed company by planting area, and the merged company retained the name of Sime Darby.
The company's overall brown fruit bunch production fell 13% year-on-year in the first quarter to 1.91 million tonnes. The output of the Malaysian business was mainly hit by labor shortages, while the Indonesian business fell back to normal levels from an exceptionally high output in the first quarter of last year.
Sime Darby Plantation believes that high palm oil prices may hit market demand, but the lack of supply of other vegetable oils and the disruption of some vegetable oil supply chains due to the Russian-Ukrainian war will offset the impact.
The company forecasts that this year's crop of brown fruit bunches will be lower than last year, as the newly imported foreign workers may not arrive in Malaysia until the second half of the year.
