KUALA LUMPUR (July 14): Ancom Nylex Bhd notched a record net profit of RM75.12 million in the financial year ended May 31, 2023 (FY2023), up 10.2% from RM68.18 million a year earlier, owing to higher revenue and lower tax expenses. 

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia on Friday (July 14), the group said earnings per share (EPS) dipped slightly to 8.43 sen compared to 8.98 sen the year before. Meanwhile, a one sen dividend per share was declared for this year, marking the return of dividends since 2015.

Separately, according to the agriculture chemicals and herbicides manufacturer’s media release on Friday (July 14), FY2023 represents its strongest financial year. 

“We are delighted that Ancom Nylex has achieved successive record-breaking performance in the current financial year, despite the prevailing market uncertainties,” said Lee Cheun Wei, managing director and CEO of Ancom. 

The group’s full financial year revenue increased to RM2.04 billion compared to RM2.01 billion the year before. 

Meanwhile, for the fourth quarter ended May 31, 2023, net profit fell 41% to RM18.18 million, from RM31.92 million the previous corresponding quarter. 

Quarterly revenue also dropped to RM478.25 million this quarter compared to RM565.45 million in the corresponding quarter last year. 

The depreciated revenue can be attributed to the drop of revenue in four out of its five segments; agricultural chemicals, industrial chemicals, logistics and polymer. 

Although its agrichem segment recorded higher revenue for the financial year — RM549.3 million, a growth of 18.7% compared to the previous year, the segment saw lower quarterly revenue due to lower selling prices that were in tandem with lower prevailing prices of chemical intermediaries. 

Subsequently, Ancom’s industrial chemicals segment posted lower quarterly revenue of RM322.4 million compared to RM405.7 million, attributed to lower average selling prices. This led to its segmental profit slipping to RM7.5 million against RM36 million in the corresponding quarter which saw a one-off gain from a disposal of terminal assets. 

Both Ancom’s logistics and polymer segments reported a marginally lower quarterly revenue; RM11.6 million this quarter compared to RM12.1 million the corresponding quarter for logistics, and RM24.2 million in 4QFY2023 compared to RM24.6 million in 4QFY2022 for polymer. 

The group also announced that it has obtained the Certificate of Completion & Compliance (CCC) for its new agrichem production facility in Klang which is seeing encouraging development progress for one of its new active ingredients and is on track for commercial production by the end of 2023. 

“At the same time, we continue to pursue opportunities in the existing markets we serve to further enhance our market share. Notwithstanding the growth catalysts ahead, we remain attuned to global weather conditions especially the El Niño phenomenon and the macroeconomic landscape, ensuring our agility in order to keep up the positive momentum,” Lee added. 

Shares of Ancom closed two sen or 2.04% higher at RM1, valuing the group at RM974.9 million.