Leong Hup nearly doubles earnings in 3Q, declares 1.2 sen dividend

KUALA LUMPUR: Leong Hup International Bhd (LHI) saw its net profit nearly doubled to RM132.96 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2023 (3Q FY2023) from RM67.31 million previously.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, the integrated poultry, eggs and livestock feeds producer said the strong performance was lifted by higher revenue backed by higher selling price and sales volume of both its livestock and poultry related products as well as its feedmill segments.

For the livestock and poultry related products segment, LHI said the revenue increased to RM2.52 billion in 3Q FY2023 from RM2.36 billion previously, due mainly to higher selling price and sales volume of broiler chickens and higher selling price of producing breeder day-old-chicks (DOC) in Indonesia, higher selling price and sales volume of eggs and DOC in Malaysia, higher sales volume of dressed chickens in the Philippines, and higher sales volume of fresh chicken in Singapore.

As for its feedmill segment, LHI said revenue increased 7.6 per cent to RM1.14 billion in 3Q FY2023 from RM1.06 billion in the same quarter last year, primarily supported by higher sales volume in Indonesia and higher selling price and sales volume in the Philippines.

For the cumulative nine months ended Sept 30, 2023, LHI’s net profit expanded to RM220.14 million from RM128.19 million previously, while revenue surged to RM7.13 billion from RM6.72 billion previously.

The company declared a single tier interim dividend of 1.2 sen per share amounting to RM43.8 million in respect of the financial year ending Dec 31, 2023, payable on Jan 29, 2024.

Moving forward, LHI sees the strong regional economies provide a good backdrop for higher consumption of its products as the group continues to grow, and the easing of feed input costs, particularly corn and soybean meal, provides relief to the industry.

“Barring unforeseen circumstances, the group expects the performance for financial year 2023 to be significantly better than the prior year,” it said. – BK