KUALA LUMPUR (May 21): Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd's [KL:HIBISCS] net profit climbed by 42.37% to RM101.81 million in the third quarter ended March 31, 2024 (3QFY2024), from RM71.51 million a year ago, driven by strong oil and condensate prices of over US$90 (RM421.68) per barrel.

Earnings per share stood at 12.71 sen — higher than the 8.88 sen recorded in the previous year.

Revenue jumped more than 15% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM603.5 million from RM523.34 million.

For the quarter under review, the company declared a dividend of two sen per share, raising the total dividend for the nine months ended March 31, 2024 (9MFY2024) to six sen per share. The dividend, with an ex-date of June 20, will be paid on July 19.

Following the strong results, Hibiscus is targeting to pay a minimum total dividend of 7.5 sen per share for the financial year ending June 30, 2024 (FY2024).

Adjusted for the impact of the share consolidation completed in October last year, this represents a 20% increase in dividend payout for FY2024 compared to FY2023, the oil and gas company said in a statement.

Hibiscus' FY2024 dividend target of 7.5 sen per share is significantly higher than its payouts in previous years, which ranged from 1.5 sen in FY2020 to 3.25 sen in FY2023.  

According to Hibiscus, it produced an average of 21,096 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/day) of net oil, condensate and gas in 3QFY2024. It expects to sell between 7.5 and 7.8 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) of total oil, condensate and gas in FY2024 compared to 7.1 MMboe in FY2023.

“The recent oil discovery made at the Bunga Aster-1 well has reinforced our belief that the PM3 PSC continues to hold good potential and has motivated us to make this area the main hub of our Malaysian and Vietnamese operations,” Hibiscus managing director Dr Kenneth Pereira said.

“Overall, we believe we are on track to deliver our 2026 mission of growing our net production to 35,000–50,000 boe/day and our 2P reserves to 100MMboe. As we pursue our goal, we hope to continue to deliver value to all our stakeholders,” he added.

Hibiscus’ net profit for 9MFY2024 grew 29.29% y-o-y to RM358.44 million from RM277.24 million, as revenue rose 7.41% to RM1.98 billion from RM1.84 billion previously.

Shares of Hibiscus settled up one sen or 0.39% at RM2.56 at Tuesday’s noon break, giving it a market capitalisation of RM2.06 billion.