Guan Chong Q2 earnings soar to RM43mil

PETALING JAYA: Cocoa processor Guan Chong Bhd’s net profit for its second quarter to end-June has surged by 88%, driven by improvement in margins from a higher production volume and lower input costs.

Global cocoa prices have fallen almost 30% in the last four months from their peak of US$2,914 per tonne in May.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, Guan Chong said its profit for the quarter stood at RM43mil from RM22.9mil a year ago, on the back of an increase in revenue by 1.9% to RM491.6mil from RM482.3mil previously.

“Our record performance was a culmina- tion of not only our strategic position as one of the largest producers in Asia, a continent that has seen rapid growth in chocolate consumption, but also by being ready to capture the market with a sizeable production capacity of 200,000 tonnes per annum to meet clientele demand,” said managing director and chief executive officer Brandon Tay Hoe Lian in a statement yesterday.

He said the company was in the midst of expanding its production capacity that would place it among the top-four largest cocoa processors in the world.

Presently, Guan Chong’s manufacturing capacity stands at 200,000 tonnes per annum, making it one of the largest cocoa processors in the region.

Tay pointed out that the company’s manufacturing plants in Batam and Pasir Gudang were running at near-full capacity, and were on expansion mode.

“With increasing orders, we are optimistic that our new 50,000-tonne-per-year plant in Pasir Gudang would take us to the next level of growth,” he said.

Last June, Guan Chong bought a local cocoa processor company in the form of Koko Budi Sdn Bhd.

Cumulatively, for the first half of the financial year ended June 30, 2018, Guan Chong’s net profit almost tripled to RM82.36mil from RM28.64mil last year.

Its revenue, however, declined marginally to RM1.01bil from RM1.13bil previously.