KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 30): Chin Teck Plantations Bhd’s net profit for the full year ended Aug 31, 2023 (FY2023) dropped 50.36% to RM53.37 million, compared with RM107.52 million for the previous year, underpinned by higher administrative expenses and lower revenue.

As a result, earnings per share declined to 58.42 sen from 117.68 sen, the company showed in a bourse filing on Monday.

Annual revenue fell by 20.98% to RM205.67 million, against RM260.29 million previously, largely due to a significant decrease in average selling prices of crude palm oil (CPO), palm kennel (PK) and fresh fruit bunches (FFB).

The group’s quarterly net profit for the fourth quarter ended Aug 31, 2023 (4QFY2023) declined by 41.87% to RM13.71 million, from RM23.59 million a year ago, underpinned by a loss in share of results of an associate and joint ventures.

Quarterly revenue eased 22.17% to RM49.54 million, from RM63.65 million previously, on lower CPO, PK and FFB prices.

Quarter-on-quarter, net profit came in higher by 19.86% from RM11.44 million, while revenue edged marginally higher by 5.34% from RM47.03 million for 3QFY2023.

Moving forward, the group said its financial performance is highly dependent on CPO, PK and FFB prices.

In view of the payment of interim and special dividends previously, the company did not recommend a final dividend in respect of FY2023.

A first interim single-tier dividend of eight sen per stock unit and a special single tier dividend of two sen per stock unit were paid on Jan 31, 2023.

A second interim single-tier dividend of eight sen per stock unit and a special single tier dividend of two sen per stock unit were paid on Aug 30.

Shares in Chin Teck Plantations closed unchanged at RM7.67 on Monday, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM700.76 million.

Since the beginning of the year, the stock has fallen by 10.40%.