United Plantations keeping fingers crossed for 2024

PETALING JAYA: United Plantations Bhd is hopeful of a satisfactory 2024, buoyed by an increase in palm oil prices in the first quarter of the year (1Q24), while remaining cautious over uncertain global economic growth sentiments.

Reporting that prices of palm oil have recovered from a low of RM3,607 per tonne in early January to about RM4,197 in late March, the group attributed the price escalation to lower-than-expected production in Malaysia and Indonesia resulting in reduced stocks.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, United Plantations said net profit for 1Q24 jump 18.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) to Rm132.9mil, supported by a 3.6% y-o-y improvement in revenue to Rm476.7mil.

The group pointed to higher contribution from its plantation segment for the positive result, primarily due to increases in revenues for the plantation and refinery segments during the quarter, as a result of higher crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel (PK) prices.

“Group CPO production increased by 2.9% whereas PK production decreased marginally by 1%.

“The average CPO and PK prices at

RM4,179 per tonne and RM2,083 per tonne were 13.9% and 4.2% higher, respectively, than the corresponding quarter,” it said.

As a result, United Plantations said the pre-tax profit of its plantation segment increased by 47.2% y-o-y compared to the corresponding three months of last year, leading the improvement in earnings.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, however, the group’s net earnings fell 33.8% from Rm201.9mil, while turnover was also lower by 12.4% from Rm544mil.