KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 12): Heineken Malaysia Bhd topped Bursa Malaysia gainers in Friday afternoon trade after the brewer's share price rose as much as 80 sen or 3.62% to RM22.90 before paring gains following the company's Thursday profit report which beat analysts' forecasts.

At 4.21pm on Friday, Heineken's share price pared gains to RM22.76.

On Thursday, Heineken said net profit fell to RM51.02 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2021 (3QFY21) from RM61.25 million a year earlier as revenue decreased to RM389.85 million from RM473.75 million.

For the nine months ended Sept 30, 2021 (9MFY21), Heineken said cumulative net profit however climbed to RM149.83 million from RM100.02 million a year earlier while revenue went up to RM1.29 billion from RM1.24 billion.

On Friday, CGS-CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd and TA Securities Holdings Bhd analysts said Heineken's core net profit, which excludes extraordinary items, was above CGS-CIMB and TA's full-year estimates but within consensus forecast.

CGS-CIMB analyst Walter Aw wrote in a note: "(Heineken's) 9MFY21 core net profit of RM152m was above our (forecast at 88% of full-year forecast) but within Bloomberg consensus' (forecast at 69% of) FY21 estimates."

TA analyst Jeff Lye Zhen Xiong wrote in a note: "Heineken's 9MFY21 core earnings of RM149.8m came above our expectation at 86% of our full-year estimate but within consensus."

CGS-CIMB reiterated its "add" call for Heineken shares with a higher target price (TP) of RM26.70 from RM24.20 previously, according to Aw.

Meanwhile, Lye said TA reiterated its "buy" call for Heineken shares with a higher TP of RM28.20 from RM28 previously.

At 4.21pm on Friday, Heineken's share price pared gains to RM22.76 for a market value of about RM6.88 billion based on the company's 302.1 billion issued shares.