KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 26): Plantation company Negri Sembilan Oil Palms Bhd (NSOP) is paying out RM2.81 million or 4 sen per share in special dividend to its shareholders after its net profit surged 425% year-on-year to RM7.35 million in the third quarter of 2021.

This is on top of a second interim dividend of 3 sen per share amounting to RM2.11 million that it is declaring for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2021 (FY21). Both dividends are payable on Dec 31.

This brings the group's total dividends so far this year to 14 sen per share, following its first interim dividend of 3 sen per share and a special dividend of 4 sen per share totalling RM4.91 million that were paid out on July 30, 2021.

In a bourse filing on Friday, NSOP announced that its net profit for the three months ended Sept 30, 2021 (3QFY21) jumped to RM7.35 million from RM1.4 million a year ago, mainly due to significant improvement in its revenue in the quarter under review.

Quarterly revenue increased 38.3% to RM23.76 million from RM17.18 million in 3QFY20, thanks to higher average selling prices of fresh fruit bunches (FFB), crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel (PK). This is despite lower sales volume recorded in 3QFY21.

"Other income increased substantially mainly due to an amount of fair value gain on consumable biological assets in the current quarter under review as opposed to an amount of fair value loss on consumable biological assets a year ago," it said.

For the cumulative nine months ended Sept 30, 2021 (9MFY21), NSOP saw its net profit surge 407.6% to RM18.66 million from RM3.68 million a year ago, while revenue grew 44.5% to RM67.59 million in 9MFY21 from RM46.76 million in 9MFY20.

On prospects, the group said its plantation profit for the full year is expected to improve significantly when compared to the last financial year due to the prevailing strong selling prices of FFB, CPO and PK.

NSOP shares closed up one sen or 0.32% at RM3.14, bringing it a market capitalisation of RM220.43 million.