Kenanga Research has lowered its target price for Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd, the world's third largest oil palm planter, to RM4.40 from RM4.65 after reporting lower-than-expected earnings for the first nine months of the year.

The company registered a core net profit of RM621 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, meeting Kenanga's forecast of 916 million by 68 per cent, the brokerage said in a report on Monday.

"This could be caused by its slower than expected recovery from tree stress, due to its mature estates which have an average tree age of 16.5 years," said Kenanga. It maintained a 'market perform' call for the company.

Felda Global made headlines with a 3.1 billion listing in June, at the time the second largest globally after Facebook's IPO, earmarking funds from the exercise for expansion in Southeast Asia and Africa.

Shares of the company fell 0.22 per cent to RM4.54 as of 0928 am (0128GMT). This continues a downtrend for the stock, which has lost 15.7 per cent since its debut in June. -- Reuters