KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 22): Egg producer LTKM Bhd has declared a special dividend of 10 sen per share after its net profit surged 14-fold to RM30.89 million in the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2023 (3QFY2024) from RM2.16 million in 3QFY2023.

Its bottomline in 3QFY2024 was mainly boosted by subsidies received from the government and lower cost of major raw materials, particularly corn, the group said in its quarterly results filing.

Earnings per share jumped to 21.58 sen per share from 1.51 sen per share. Quarterly revenue, however, dipped 1.89% to RM64.84 million from RM66.09 million, due to the lower average selling price of eggs.

It plans to pay the 10 sen special dividend on April 2, 2024.

For the first nine months of FY2024 (9MFY2024), its net profit more than tripled to RM40.71 million from RM11.29 million in 9MFY2023, which it also attributed to government subsidies and lower cost of corn and soybean, its major raw materials. Revenue rose a marginal 2.05% to RM196.41 million from RM192.47 million.

On prospects, LTKM’s board "foresees the next period to be volatile due to fallen export prices and uncertainty of price control continuity in the local market".

The management said it will continue to focus on efficiencies at the farm to minimise volatilities and disruption to its operations.

LTKM’s share price closed unchanged at RM1.42 on Thursday, bringing the stock a market capitalisation of RM203 million.