IOI Corp Bhd (KL:IOICORP) posted a 133.8% year-on-year jump in its first quarter net profit, primarily driven by foreign exchange (forex) translation gains from its US dollar-denominated borrowings following the strengthening of the ringgit against the greenback, and fair value adjustments on its biological assets and derivative financial instruments.
It made a net profit of RM710.7 million for the three months ended Sept 30, 2024 (1QFY2025), as opposed to RM304 million in 1QFY2024, while revenue climbed 21.4% to RM2.67 billion from RM2.2 billion, its bourse filing showed.
Excluding the RM449.5 million gains from the one-off non-operating items — of which RM365.9 million was net forex gain — its underlying profit before tax for 1QFY2025 was RM359.1 million, up 4% from RM344.4 million in 1QFY2024. This was due mainly to higher contribution from its plantation segment on higher crude palm oil and palm kernel prices as well as higher production of fresh fruit bunches (FFB), which resulted in the segment's profit rising 12% to RM353.1 million.
The stronger plantation segment was partially offset by lower contribution from its resource-based manufacturing business, whose underlying profit dropped 33% to RM37.6 million from RM56.4 million due to lower sales volume and margins from the refining sub-segment, mitigated by higher sales volume and margins from its oleochemical sub-segment nad higher share of associate results.
Earnings per share jumped to 11.46 sen from 4.9 sen. No dividend was declared for the quarter under review.
IOI Corp is expecting CPO price, which surged above RM5,000 per tonne at the start of November, to remain high — at above RM4,500 per tonne — during the next three months, supported by tighter palm oil supplies as it heads towards the low crop season. "However, concerns over lower demand due to high price coupled with the current CPO price premium over soybean oil price will exert some downward pressure on this high CPO price," it said.
The group is also expecting its FFB production is projected to grow moderately compared to FY2024, driven by continued yield improvements in peninsular Malaysia and increased FFB production from maturing young palms in Sabah and Indonesia. "Combined with the higher CPO price, we maintain a positive outlook on the plantation segment’s financial performance for the remaining periods of FY2025," it added.
As for its refinery and commodity marketing business, it said refining margins had improved due to higher CPO export tax effective Nov 1. "However, the relatively high refined products price may affect demand in the coming months," it said.
Its oleochemical business, which it said had experienced a recovery in the North Asia market which should remain sustainable through 2QFY2025, will see demand positively supported by normalising freight and logistics costs.
"For our specialty fats sub-segment comprising our associate company, Bunge Loders Croklaan (BLC), the product margins have been very favourable and the company is expected to post record-high profit for the current financial year. In the last quarter, we mentioned the impending expiry of a lease over a refinery at Rotterdam which might affect BLC’s operations in Europe. Fortunately, BLC has successfully renewed the lease for another year, which aligns with the expected completion of its new bulk refinery plant complex in Amsterdam by early 2026," it added.
It is also anticipating more forex volatility ahead, influenced by the new US president's policies and the development of US-China geopolitical tensions and the US interest rates.
"The Malaysian ringgit had strengthened against the US dollar, [USD] which resulted in forex translation gain from our USD-denominated borrowings in 1QFY2025. However, since then, the ringgit has weakened significantly," it noted.
Overall, the group expects its operating and financial performance for the remaining quarters of FY2025 to be satisfactory.
IOI Corp’s shares rose one sen to RM3.80 on Tuesday, valuing the group at RM23.88 billion.