UTDPLT (2089) Overview - UNITED PLANTATIONS BHD

1Q2024 EPS improved by 18% =)

3 days ago

but PAT -34% QoQ

3 days ago

Problem with holding a physical AGM near its estate is that few loyal shareholders can attend. I strongly urge the management to consider holding a hybrid AGM next year, like what Bursa has done. UP can set the example as one of the first few listed companies that pioneer hybrid AGMs

3 days ago

PAT increased 18.7%,
RM1.65b contract (revenue) to be delivered within next 12 months.

3 days ago

QR out why so quiet? Hope this year div btw RM1.5 to 1.7.😃

2 days ago

Ahlian

Oiihk, you attending the AGM yesterday, what's the CEO visions?

2 days ago

goldenhope

The venue of the AGM is quick far away from town, hope management can consider hybrid AGM next year.

2 days ago

LossAversion

Still so "backward". Still no virtual meeting!

2 days ago

Pinky

Virtual meeting is dumb and bad for shareholders

2 days ago

Ahlian

CEO Invite all shareholders to join next year. All price below RM 27 will be take up before XD.

2 days ago

I support virtual meetings, all of my businesses are on virtual meetings now. So efficient!

2 days ago

Btw, by the end of this Year, UP should be more than RM35

2 days ago

Last hour to buy UP share before Ex date!

2 days ago

I dont understand at this hour still got people want to sell their UP share

2 days ago

dam82

all scared it will go down afte ex date .. steady looking at the result the divident should be awesome this year as well

2 days ago

goldenhope

CPO drop below 3,900

2 days ago

LossAversion

@Pinky, so fortunate of you to be able to attend physical AGM. People like me who live far away cant 'follow' the meeting if there is no (dumb) virtual opportunity!

Posted by Pinky > 6 hours ago | Report Abuse
Virtual meeting is dumb and bad for shareholders

2 days ago

Last 10 minutes everybody

2 days ago

Will the magic happen?

2 days ago

Mardi Bross will come all the way from Indonesia

2 days ago

ImmuneSystemHero.com

2 days ago

Last 1 minute!

2 days ago

Yeaaaaa RM26.380 , good number

2 days ago

Hold your shares tightly. For those who want to buy, the trees do not grow to heaven so plan carefully. I am surprised that Dato Carl Bek-Nielsen can speak very good Malay. Someone asked me to give a hint if it is good to buy before ex-date. Well, Q1 report is released by end of the day of AGM, so I think it is better to answer after reading the Q1 report. And after reading the Q1 report, it is already end of before ex-date. I think the dates are set by the management with the intention of giving us the opportunity to be fully informed before we decide to buy or sell, the time given is not more or less and is just enough.

1 day ago

@Sardin, I agree with you that the date is carefully plan to release the QR long time ago.
With the current order book, production data, CPO price and adequate cash reserve, a reasonable price movement is expected.
Business model is adequate for contract sales to eliminate most receivables and take advantage at cash position. UP cash position never fail me and always at 1/3 or 1/4 of its annual revenue.

1 day ago

Yes, I agree with both of you. I think it is now is the best time to get some more shares as the price is still low. I'm sure before lunch time of today it will surpass RM25 again

1 day ago

Another good QR, the price will be above 30.
Sardin, any highlite in AGM? Appreciate if you share.

1 day ago

I thought you were there. You wore the UP t-shirt right?

1 day ago

Oh, I did not attend. You got the wrong guy.
Appreciate if you can share. 🙂

1 day ago

I would like to start with my opinion and conclusion. There is hardly or no any information in the AGM that you can use to speculate the share price. In my opinion, the AR and QR can give you a better idea if you want to set a target price for the share.

The AGM started with a presentation by Dato' Carl Bek-Nielsen. All the content can be found in UP website and AR2023. It is good for less sophisticated people who do not read reports, but no new information for those who read the reports. I would like to say that this is very fair to people who are unable to attend. So UP is very transparent and thoughtful to feed all you need to know and "can know" through the published annual report at your convenience to read it miles away.

After the presentation is the Q&A session. As my fingers are slow I just rely on my ears and brain to record. I could be a biased listener and am an old man. So bear in mind this when I try to recall something.

1. Will UP make more profit in 2024? "Time will tell" said DCBN.
2. Is EPS and DPS uptrend going to last? "Don't be too greedy." "It is dangerous to be too greedy." "The trees do not grow to heaven." "Don't push too hard lah... (everybody laugh)"
3. Expansion? Buy more land? More capex? Cannot tell even if there is such a plan to avoid competition in the bidding. "We don't want to have 10 times land bank but make only half the profit (or profit margin?)."

Other questions and answers are not so important / does not give really useful information (at least for me). I think I missed some of it too. If given a chance to be transported to the AGM via time portal, what would you want to ask? Maybe your question and help me to recall something.

1 day ago

Pinky

Thanks Sardin 👍

1 day ago

moven00

@ Sardin
Did they manage to resolve the labor shortage issue at UP? Anyone ask on this? Are they still relying on Guess Worker? Anything mention on this in the AGM?

1 day ago

Thank you for the info Sardin. Plantation is a business depends on weather, what human can do is preparing for all the possible crisis and hope for the best, such as water shortage mitigation, forex fluctuation, and other controllable factors are well mitigated.... God factor such as El Nino and CPO price movement are out of control.

QR got addressed labor issue, read it.

1 day ago

Thanks Sardin👍.

1 day ago

Hi Mooven, I can't recall any question regarding to labour. In AR2023 you can see UP hires thousands of guest workers, and it mentioned for the first time they have more than enough labours. "...tireless efforts by our HRSS Department in bringing in 781 new Guest Workers through our Ethical Recruitment Procedures during the year. As I write this message, I can confidently state that we for the first time in years are ahead of our respective work." page 23 AR2023.
programmes.

1 day ago

I compared 1Q24 results against 4Q23. This is what I found. For those who have studied please share your findings too.

4Q23 revenue: RM544m
1Q24 revenue: RM477m (-12% QoQ)

4Q23 operating profit: RM255m
1Q24 operating profit: RM171m (-33% QoQ)

Plantation segment:

4Q23 segment revenue: RM337m
1Q24 segment revenue: RM309m (-8% QoQ)

4Q23 segment operating profit: RM218m
1Q24 segment operating profit: RM154m (-29% QoQ)

Refinery segment:

4Q23 segment revenue: RM376m
1Q24 segment revenue: RM320m (-15% QoQ)

4Q23 segment operating profit: RM38m
1Q24 segment operating profit: RM16m (-56% QoQ)

18 hours ago

On plantation revenue, 1Q24 CPO volume was far lower than 4Q23. Note B2 explains “The revenue for plantation segment decreased by 8.3% in the current quarter from the preceding quarter due to lower production”

This was partly due to seasonality as CPO production declines from October to February (refer note A3).

However, a bigger factor is 4Q23 CPO production volume was exceptionally high at 70k MT, 15% higher than same period in 2022. 1Q24 CPO production volume has since moderated back to 55k MT.

Was the high production volume in 2H23 an aberration? How about decline in Jan-Feb and subsequent recovery in Mar? Has anyone studied other company outputs and how do they compare? Did the management say anything during the AGM?

The 1Q24 CPO production volume 55,446MT * RM4,179 = RM232m is about 75% of 1Q24 plantation revenue. The other one quarter revenue may be contributed by PK, coconut and other factors I’m not aware of.

18 hours ago

Note B2 explains that refinery segment revenue declines due to “due to lower sales volume”, I believe in tandem with the previously mentioned lower production volume.

QoQ, segment PBT declined 58%, and segment operating profit declined 56%.

Three reasons cited in the note
1. Lower volume hence lower profit
2. Higher forex loss at JV Unifuji (where share of profit declined from RM8m to RM1m)
3. Higher hedging losses as Unitata, which sold contracts earlier at lower prices, later had to unwind position and bought at higher prices to cover earlier position. Such hedging losses happened in a rising market just like in 2022. But when Unitata sells refined products, hopefully at higher prices too, a better margin could offset the losses.

Don’t know how to estimate the hedging effects on profits/ losses. If anyone has any idea, please share your working.

18 hours ago

Bro, look forward, they sold forward around 195K tons @41xx
for next 12 months, remaining of FY 2024 should be ok unless
CPO price move above RM4200.
I'm more concern about next year Q1, Hari Raya n CNY in same Q.
They might incur hedging loss again.

8 hours ago

Everybody who owned palm oil stock long enough know that the production output has SEASONAL factor.
It is right to compare output and revenue for the same period (1Q2024 vs 1Q2023),
but comparing this quarter (1Q2024) vs last quarter (4Q2023), confirm will get negative result due to the above Seasonal factor.
On the other side, if comparing a company WITHOUT seasonal factor (ie real estate, petro, electricity ...), I will compare last Q with this Q.

I give less concern on the hedging part because the contracts are sold with fixed amount, UP has budget to deal with it and forex hedging contract in place.
If the CPO went above contract price, I use my own crops for production; if below contract price, I buy cheaper crops at spot price for production.
Until I fulfilled all my delivery contract.

Forex hedging just to lock on exchange rate for easy budgeting and forecast the profit.

What stakeholder should concern is current order book, monthly production and CPO price.

5 hours ago

My findings:
Good weather makes more good to efficient plantations than mediocre plantations. Bad weather makes more damage to efficient plantations than mediocre plantations. Pray for good weather.

5 hours ago

@ooihk, what are the implication of Hari Raya and CNY on the same quarter, and by how much?

1 hour ago

@JrWarren,
The 20% QoQ production decline in 1Q24 (versus 4Q23) cannot be explained by seasonality alone.

From historical first quarter perspective, 1Q24 output of 55k MT is probably normal.

But 4Q23 output (70k MT), and in fact 3Q23 output (80k MT), are EXCEPTIONALLY high.

I draw this conclusion from the published production data. On YoY basis, 4Q23 and 3Q23 have recorded 15% to 16% increase. Quite unusual.

Own CPO (MT) Quarter YoY
55,446 1Q24 3%
70,149 4Q23 15%
79,641 3Q23 16%
62,295 2Q23 -7%
53,888 1Q23 -7%
60,851 4Q22 10%
68,942 3Q22 -4%
66,731 2Q22 0%
57,866 1Q22 -1%
55,474 4Q21 5%
71,449 3Q21 6%
66,460 2Q21 6%
58,217 1Q21 -2%

I wonder if the 2H23 output surge is an aberration.

1 hour ago

Does UP refinery use own crop when CPO price is high, and use 3rd party crop bought at spot price when CPO price is low?

With due respect, I doubt it works this way.

If the refinery uses 3rd party crops bought at spot price on a large scale, what will its plantation business do with own crops?

If they sell their own crops, it’s still at spot price.

If they stock them up on a large scale waiting for better prices in the future, it will be speculation which is against their purpose of hedging in the first place. Besides it’s also unclear to me for how long the produce stocks can be kept in inventory.

In fact, as deduced from the balance sheet, UP keeps not more than half of a month of produce stocks.

1 hour ago

@Sardin, refer to your statement. Do you mean that 2H23 was good weather and therefore it was exceptionally good for UP?

BTW do you study and compare against production data of other plantation companies? If yes, mind sharing the summary of your data?

1 hour ago

Hi Observatory, the extraordinary dip of production in Feb 2024 was likely due to El Nino. But rainfall improves in Mar. That's not the explanation from UP, but my own belief based on info collection from various references. Exceptionally good 2H23 (vs year 2022) was mainly due to resolve of labour shortage.

49 minutes ago