KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 30): Batu Kawan Bhd’s share price hit its all-time high on Thursday (Dec 30), the penultimate trading day of 2021 by gaining 32 sen or 1.43% to close at RM22.62 on thinly-traded volumes of 16,700 shares.
Year-to-date, Batu Kawan’s shares have gained RM4.72 or 26.37% from RM17.90 on Jan 4, the first trading day of 2021.
The plantation group had recently posted a 262% spike in its net profit to RM308.04 million for the fourth financial quarter ended Sept 30, 2021 (4QFY2021) on Nov 23, from RM85.17 million in the previous year’s corresponding quarter while its quarterly revenue grew 50% to RM6.16 billion, from RM4.12 billion.
Batu Kawan said the strong quarterly performance was mainly driven by its plantation operations which had benefited from higher crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel (PK) prices, and profit contribution from IJM Plantations Bhd which its 47.74%-owned subsidiary Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) had acquired in November with an all-cash offer of RM3.10 per share.
Besides KLK’s acquisition of IJM Plantations, Batu Kawan had also completed another major acquisition on Jan 15 when it had amassed a 92.14% stake in Chemical Company of Malaysia Bhd (CCM) with a similar all-cash offer of RM3.10 per share.
The CCM acquisition began when Batu Kawan had acquired a 56.32% stake in CCM from Permodalan Nasional Bhd on Nov 17, 2020.
Meanwhile, for its financial year ended Sept 30, 2021 (FY2021), the plantation group’s net profit soared by 175% to a record high of RM1.15 billion from RM417.28 million, while revenue rose 29% to RM20.72 billion, from RM16.08 billion a year earlier.
Batu Kawan had also announced a final single-tier dividend of 90 sen per share on Dec 10 to be paid on Feb 21, 2022, with an ex-date of Feb 18, 2022.
This brings its total dividend for FY2021 to RM1.10 per share, double from last year’s 55 sen per share.
At its current share price of RM22.62, the RM1.10 dividend would translate into a 4.86% dividend yield.
Batu Kawan has a market capitalisation of RM9.02 billion based on a share capital of 399.54 million shares and Thursday’s closing price of RM22.62 per share.