KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 24): IOI Corp Bhd's net profit for the fourth financial quarter ended June 30, 2021 (4QFY21) leapt 50.82% to RM359.4 million from RM238.3 million a year ago, mainly due to higher contributions from plantation and resource-based manufacturing segments.

This led to higher earnings per share of 5.74 sen in 4QFY21 versus 3.80 sen a year ago, the company said in a bourse filing.

Quarterly revenue ballooned nearly 70% to RM3.46 billion year-on-year (y-o-y) from RM2.04 billion.

IOI Corp declared a second interim dividend of six sen per share, to be paid on Oct 5, 2021.

Moving forward, IOI Corp expects its overall financial performance in the financial year ending June 30, 2022 (FY22) to be better underpinned by the strong performance from its plantation segment.

The group said the plantation segment profit for 4QFY21 grew 75% to RM409.8 million from RM234.2 million the year before, mainly driven by higher crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel (PK) prices realised, partly offset by lower fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production.

"Average CPO and PK prices realised for 4QFY21 were RM3,648/mt (4QFY20: RM2,370/mt) and RM2,656/mt (4QFY20: RM1,349/mt) respectively," said the group.

Meanwhile, the resource-based manufacturing segment's profit jumped 66% to RM165 million compared with RM99.6 million in 4QFY20.

Excluding the fair value gain on derivative financial instruments of RM71.4 million (4QFY20: RM12.9 million), IOI Corp said the resource-based manufacturing segment reported an underlying profit of RM93.6 million for 4QFY21 compared with RM86.7 million for 4QFY20.

"The higher profit was due mainly to a higher share of results from our specialty fats associated with Loders. The refining subsegment reported a decrease in contribution with lower margins. This was however cushioned by higher contribution from the oleochemical subsegment," said IOI Corp.

On a quarterly basis, net profit fell 10.44% from RM401.3 million on lower contribution from resource-based manufacturing mitigated by higher contribution from plantation segment, despite higher revenue. Revenue grew almost 21% from RM2.86 billion in 3QFY21.

For FY21, IOI Corp's cumulative net profit surged 132% to RM1.39 billion from RM600.9 million. Annual revenue climbed 44.22% to RM11.25 billion from RM7.8 billion a year earlier.

On its prospects, the group said the FFB production for its plantation segment is expected to be stable in FY22, as the higher production from young palm trees at its Indonesian plantations will offset the production loss from the group's accelerated replanting programme in Sabah.

"As for the oleochemical subsegment within the resource-based manufacturing segment, the stronger-than-anticipated palm feedstock price will moderate the product margin, although the price of palm kernel oil, the main raw material for our oleochemical subsegment, has not increased as much as the price of palm stearin.

The new fatty acid and soap noodle plants which will come on stream in 3Q and 4Q of FY22 respectively are expected to contribute to the subsegment's overall sales volume and margin growth in the future, although the contribution to profit in FY22 will be minimal.

"For the specialty fats subsegment comprising our associate company, Bunge Loders Croklaan, better performance is expected for FY22 with the normalisation of the economy and social activities in Europe coupled with the strong economic performance in US and China," the group said.

Shares of IOI Corp rose 3.73% or 14 sen to close at RM3.89, with some 2.09 million shares done. The company's market capitalisation stood at RM24.45 billion. The stock has fallen 12.2% year-to-date from when it was trading at RM4.43 apiece.