Leong Hup Q1 earningsup 15% to RM60.58mil

PETALING JAYA: Poultry producer Leong Hup International Bhd has posted a jump in its first-quarter earnings ahead of its return to Bursa Malaysia on Thursday.

Its three-month to end March net profit rose 15% to RM60.58mil compared with the RM52.68mil made a year ago, on higher sales volume and an increase in the selling price of eggs in Malaysia and broiler chicks in Indonesia.

Revenue rose almost 11.2% to RM1.51bil from RM1.35bil previously, the company said in a filing yesterday.

Executive director and group chief executive officer Tan Sri Lau Tuang Nguang said the encouraging first-quarter financial year 2019 (FY19) financial performance was reflected in the strength of Leong Hup’s geographical diversification as a fully integrated poultry operator.

“With a number of expansion plans in the pipeline, we are optimistic that the Leong Hup group would be able to achieve better results for FY19,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Leong Hup owns livestock feed mills and poultry businesses in five countries in the region. It is one of the major suppliers of broiler chicken in Malaysia with an estimated 10% market share.

The company said that Indonesia was its largest geographical segment, contributing 37.4% or RM563.41mil to the group’s total revenue in the first quarter.

The Malaysian operations came in second, contributing RM442.24mil or 29.4% of total revenue.

Meanwhile, Vietnam contributed 19.5% or RM293.24mil, Singapore 12.8% or RM193.33mil, and the Philippines, 0.9% or RM14.14mil to the group’s total revenue in the first quarter.

Earnings per share for the quarter stood at 1.78 sen, while net asset per share was 39 sen.

During the quarter under review, Leong Hup said its livestock and poultry-related product segment continued to drive improvements in its revenue, contributing approximately 57.1% or RM859.65mil of the group’s total revenue.

Meanwhile, revenue from the livestock and poultry-related product segment also recorded an improvement of 2.7% year-on-year.

“The rise in revenue was primarily due to an increase in the sales volume and the average selling price of eggs in Malaysia and an increase in the average selling price of broiler day-old-chicks in Indonesia,” Leong Hup said.

On its initial public offering (IPO) proceeds, of the total amount to be raised, RM275mil will go to the company. About RM207.7mil, or 75% of the amount, would be set aside for business expansion.

The Philippines will be the biggest recipient of the proceeds from the IPO, followed by Vietnam (RM47mil) and Malaysia (RM40.7mil).

It is worth noting that Leong Hup was the first poultry company to be listed on Bursa Malaysia in 1990 before it was taken private in 2012 by the founding Lau family.

Its debut this Thursday would make Leong Hup the biggest IPO on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia this year.

Source: TheStar