Lotte Chemical’s FY17 pre-tax profit falls to RM1.14 bln
KUALA LUMPUR: Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd’s (Lotte Chemical) pre-tax profit for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2017 fell to RM1.14 billion from RM1.71 billion in FY2016.
Revenue declined to RM7.82 billion from RM8.13 billion previously primarily due to reduced plant load at its Indonesian polyethylene plant and decreased sales volume of by-products, it said in filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday.
“Average plant utilisation was 86 per cent compared to 90 per cent in the corresponding quarter, mainly due to the Indonesian polyethylene plant load was reduced during the quarter over poor polyethylene economics as a result of tight ethylene supply and high cost,” it said.
On outlook, the company said its operations for the financial year 2018 is expected to be primarily influenced by the demand and supply balance of petrochemical products in the market and its ability to maximise production outputs and operational efficiency.
Lotte Chemical Titan said another factor that would influence the company’s performance is feedstock prices which is correlated to crude oil prices.
“Historically, polyolefin prices will move in tandem with feedstock prices on a lagging basis,” it said.
It said the company anticipated
Average plant utilisation was 86 per cent compared to 90 per cent in the corresponding quarter, mainly due to the Indonesian polyethylene plant load was reduced during the quarter over poor polyethylene economics as a result of tight ethylene supply and high cost. Lotte Chemical
the petrochemicals market to continue to be resilient in the near term with demand growth for petrochemicals to outpace the rate of new supply additions in the region.
“We expect our production output in 2018 to be normalised in view of no major planned plant shut down,” it added
In a separate filing, the company announced a final single tier dividend of 23 sen per share for the financial year 2017. — Bernama