KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 25): Far East Holdings Bhd's net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2022 (3QFY2022) rose 21.21% to RM62.91 million from RM51.9 million for the same period last year on higher share of profits after tax of associates besides higher fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production.

Earnings per share were up at 10.59 sen from 8.74 sen, the oil palm plantation's Bursa Malaysia filing on Friday (Nov 25) showed. An interim single-tier dividend of eight sen was declared, to be payable on Jan 10, 2023, with an ex-date of Dec 19 and an entitlement date of Dec 20.

Quarterly revenue, however, slipped 2.42% to RM188.98 million from RM193.65 million in the same period a year ago.

For the cumulative nine months ended Sept 30, 2022 (9MFY2022), Far East's net profit increased 71.05% to RM190.38 million from RM111.3 million as 9MFY2022 revenue grew 32.39% to RM618.41 millon from RM467.12 million.

Looking ahead, Far East's performance for the current financial year would continue to be challenging due to the rising operational costs, higher wages, volatility of crude palm oil (CPO) prices and labour shortage, the group said.

It added that FFB production is expected to be stable this year and the group's financial results for FY2022 are anticipated to be higher than that of the preceding year in view of the higher CPO prices in the first six months of the period.

Far East's share price closed 14 sen or 3.6% lower at RM3.75 on Friday (Nov 25), bringing the group a market capitalisation of RM2.23 billion.