KUALA LUMPUR (May 29): Guan Chong Bhd’s first quarter ended March 31, 2020 (1QFY20) net profit grew by 35.8% to RM72.17 million from RM53.14 million a year ago on higher selling prices of cocoa products and revenue contributed by its newly-acquired German subsidiary Schokinag Holding GmbH.
The higher quarterly net profit also includes a RM27.8 million gain on disposal of Guan Chong’s entire stake in associate company Fuji Oil Global (M) Sdn Bhd to its joint venture partner Fuji Oil Asia Pte Ltd on Feb 26, it said in a bourse filing.


As a result of the higher bottom-line earnings, the group posted earnings per share of 7.16 sen, from 5.56 sen previously.
Quarterly revenue was up by 40.32% y-o-y at RM909.38 million, from RM648.07 million last year.
In a breakdown of its results, the group noted that its Singaporean operations continue to contribute the largest portion of its revenue, followed by its Malaysian and Indonesian operations.
Its Singaporean operations registered a y-o-y decline in revenue, posting RM935.63 million, down 7.4% from RM1.03 billion in 1QFY19.
Its Malaysian operations also saw revenue go down 9.3% to RM711.93 million from RM784.73 million a year ago.
However, Guan Chong’s revenue from its Indonesian operations and from other regions went up. Indonesian operational revenue grew 12% to RM322.4 million from RM287.93 million. Meanwhile, revenue from other regions rose almost five times to RM213.09 million from RM48.27 million last year.
In a separate statement, Guan Chong managing director cum chief executive office Brandon Tay Hoe Lian opined that the group’s 1QFY20 performance indicated resilient demand for its cocoa product and the efficiency of its operations, underpinned by an uninterrupted supply chain combined with strong capabilities across sourcing of cocoa beans, processing and delivery to customers.
“Furthermore, our automated processes and agility enabled us to consistently maintain reliable deliveries to all our multinational and domestic clientele, despite the Movement Control Order in Malaysia, which limited our workforce by 50% for two weeks in 1Q20.
“Going forward, we anticipate a challenging environment as Covid-19 uncertainties continue to linger. Nonetheless, we are prepared to navigate potential headwinds, optimise our production, as well as build our markets through expansions into Europe and Cote D’Ivoire,” he said.
Tay said while Covid-19 has dampened the appetite for chocolate temporarily, Guan Chong’s long-term demand and prospects remain stable, given chocolate's appeal across most customer segments.
In a separate bourse filing, the cocoa grinder said it was declaring a first interim dividend of one sen per share, with an entitlement date of June 16 and a payment date of July 10.
This is lower than the 1.5 sen proposed during the corresponding quarter last year.
At 3.06pm, Guan Chong shares traded up 1.5 sen or 5.3% to RM2.93, thus valuing the company at RM3.12 billion. About 3.79 million shares were traded.

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/guan-chongs-1q-net-profit-rises-better-cocoa-product-prices-revenue-new-german-unit
Source: theedgemarkets.com