KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 3): TH Plantations Bhd’s unit has issued RM650 million of Islamic debt paper to refinance its existing Sukuk Murabahah programme of up to RM1.2 billion in nominal value.

TH Plantations said this round of issuances comes under its unrated Islamic medium term notes programme of up to RM1.08 billion in nominal value based on the Shariah principle of Wakalah BI Al-Istithmar.

These issuances were done by the group’s special purpose vehicle THP Suria Mekar Sdn Bhd, with a tenure of between four and 11 years, and annual distribution rates of between 4.87% and 5.4%.

Maybank Investment Bank is the principal adviser, lead arranger and lead manager for the Sukuk Wakalah programme.

TH Plantations, which is 73.8% owned by Lembaga Tabung Haji, reported that its total loans and borrowings stood at RM1.2 billion as at second quarter ended June 30, 2022, down from RM1.37 billion as at end-2021.

Over the same period, cash and cash equivalents declined to RM139.25 million from RM260.22 million. Accumulated losses shrank to RM88.63 million from RM119.99 million, its Bursa Malaysia filing showed.

For the six months ended June 30, 2022 (1HFY22), the group’s net profit dropped 24.5% to RM31.35 million from RM41.53 million in the previous corresponding period due to lower fair value on biological assets and higher costs of sales. Revenue for 1HFY22 rose 46% to RM448.56 million from RM307.39 million amid stronger palm oil prices.

TH Plantations closed one sen or 2.5% lower at 38.5 sen per share on Monday (Oct 3), the stock’s lowest since September 2020, giving it a market capitalisation of RM340.28 million.