KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 18): Sime Darby Plantation Bhd said today the evaluation of its labour practices across its Malaysian operations by London-based ethical trade consultancy Impactt Ltd is facing a delay due to the national lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The assessment had commenced as planned in April, with the hope that it would be completed by May.
“As a result of the Movement Control Order, we are unable to travel interstate. It has halted the progress that we were expecting to do on this assessment by third-party [consultants]," said Sime Darby Plantation group managing director Mohamad Helmy Othman Basha during a virtual press conference today.
"We hope that when travel is allowed, we will be able to fly to Sabah and Sarawak as a lot of verification can only be done on the ground,” he added.
The plantation group unveiled its financial performance for the second quarter ended June 30, 2021 (2QFY21), which saw net profit increasing 63.2% to RM617 million from RM378 million a year ago. Quarterly revenue also rose 37.2% to RM4.41 billion from RM3.22 billion in 2QFY20.
It declared an interim dividend of 7.9 sen per share for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2021, payable on Nov 12.
Mohamad Helmy said as far as Sime Darby Plantation customers are concerned, most, if not all, have continued to stick with the plantation group.
“We pride ourselves as a leader (of the industry) in this country and we know that in terms of sustainability, we have practised going beyond what is actually expected of a plantation company.
"We know that the goalpost keeps moving and standards keep changing. Sometimes, we have to play catch-up [with these standards], but we will do that,” he noted.
To recap, Sime Darby Plantation was slapped with a Withhold Release Order by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in December, following allegations of forced labour in their production processes raised to the US CBP.
The group said it is also engaging with the CBP and the latter is aware that the plantation group is conducting the third party assessment and that it is an ongoing endeavour.
Currently, the plantation group’s board Sustainability Committee has an oversight role in this exercise.
Sime Darby Plantation also shared that it has been developing and implementing some internal action plans while waiting for the completion of the report. Among the plans were providing individual centralised secure lockers for workers’ passports on top of providing workers the additional option of placing their passports in individual, secure cabinets within their homes.
The group is also undertaking a full review of all Sime Darby Plantation grievances channels to see how existing systems can be improved further.
At the same time, the group, which adopts a zero recruitment fee policy approach, said it will continue to review and improve its foreign worker recruitment process. It is also rolling out a new platform for social dialogue with all its workers across all operations.
Sime Darby Plantation will also undergo a review of reporting lines and structures to ensure more effective implementation of all its policies and procedures.
At 4.40pm, Sime Darby Plantation shares were up 11 sen or 2.94% at RM3.85, bringing a market capitalisation of RM26.56 billion.