Lotte Chemical Titan declares 3.27 sen dividend for FY20
KUALA LUMPUR: Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd has declared a dividend of 3.27 sen per share for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2020 (FY20), involving a total payment of RM74.3 million in line with its performance for the period.
In a statement yesterday, the group said it always seek to reward shareholders by paying a consistent annual dividend payout ratio over the past three years.
It is also implementing the dividend reinvestment scheme for this final dividend to allow shareholders an option to reinvest their dividend in new shares.
The group recorded a lower net profit of RM148.59 million for FY20 from RM439.73 million a year earlier mainly due to higher losses from associates.
Similarly, revenue fell to RM6.90 billion from RM8.44 billion year-on-year due to a decrease in average product selling price and sales volume amid poor business sentiment and weakened demand.
For this year, Lotte Chemical Titan is expecting improved overall outlook for the petrochemical industry as its key polymer products have seen surging prices since the fourth quarter of 2020 and in the first two months in 2021.
The group said the strong prices are expected to hold or increase further in the first half of 2021 buoyed by the brightening economic recovery prospect with global vaccination rollouts and the sudden polymer supply shortages in the Southeast Asia.
Moreover, the deep freeze storm in the US in February had also affected operations in the key production hub in Texas which significantly reduced supplies in that country.
“What we’re seeing now is a very healthy price trends for polymer products and we expect the strong product average selling price (ASP) outlook to continue in the first half of 2021.
“This is the highest price levels observed in the last two years since the industry experienced a downturn beginning 2018,” its president and chief executive officer Park Hyun Chul said.
On the full-year outlook, he said the group is cautiously optimistic as new additional global capacities maybe expected in the second half of the year which may have a downward pressure on the polymer ASPs.
“Nevertheless, we’re seeing renewed relevance and higher demand for usage of plastic materials given the importance of hygiene and clean food packaging, and higher demand for polyphenylene ethers as well as e-commerce packaging during the pandemic period,” he said. — Bernama
What we’re seeing now is a very healthy price trends for polymer products and we expect the strong product average selling price (ASP) outlook to continue in the first half of 2021.
Park Hyun Chul