NTPM's 9MFY13 results were within our estimates, representing 77.4% of our full-year numbers. Revenue and net profit rose 8% and 10% y-o-y respectively on stronger sales and higher product margins from its personal  care  and  paper  products  units.  The  company  has  proposed  a 1.45  sen  single-tier  interim  dividend.  Maintain  BUY,  with  our  FV unchanged at RM0.55, based on 13x FY13 EPS.

In  line.  NTPM's turnover grew by 8% y-o-y  from  RM334.2m  to  RM360.9m, largely  attributed  to  a  topline  growth  of  47.0%  in  its  personal  care  segment, which  offset  the  tissue products segment's  negative  revenue  growth  (-1.2%) due  to  weaker  exports.  The  'Dragon  Baby'  boom  lifted  diaper  sales domestically, translating into higher sales for the personal care segment. The group's earnings (+10% y-o-y)  were  bolstered  by  better  PBT  from  both  the personal  care  and  paper  products  segments.  Meanwhile,  PBT  in  the  personal care segment surged 90.5% y-o-y, fuelled by higher contribution from the sale of diapers while PBT for tissue products expanded by 8.4% y-o-y, supported by higher margins. Vis-à-vis the preceding quarter, revenue and net profit rose by 7.6% and 12.2% respectively.

Source: RHB