Friday, August 26, 2011

Petronas Chemicals posts net profit RM737m

KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PCB) posted net profit RM737 million on the back revenue RM3.35 billion for the period ended June 30, 2011, due mainly to strong prices seen across most petrochemical products, partially offset by a stronger ringgit versus the US Dollar.

It said on Friday, Aug 26 that earnings per share was nine sen and net assets per share was RM2.54.

Reviewing its performance, PCG said that during the quarter, there was methane gas supply limitation for the Fertiliser and Methanol segment, which affected the production of fertiliser, methanol and ammonia.

The gas supply constraint, however, did not affect the availability of ethane and propane for Olefins and Derivatives segment, which continued to be the key contributor to the group's results, it said.

In addition, there was significant level of maintenance activities, which combined with the gas supply limitations, led to lower plant utilisation and reduced production volume for the quarter, it said.

'Despite these challenges, the Group's operating profit increased by RM114 million (13%) on the back of higher product prices and lower feedstock costs.

'The Group continues to see higher amortisation expenses in the current quarter, arising from reclassification of goodwill from acquisition of subsidiaries to other intangible assets in September 2010 and March 2011,' said PCG.

Meanwhile, share of profits from associates and jointly controlled entities remained a sizeable contributor to the Group's results, albeit decreasing slightly by RM15 million, it said.

PCG said that overall, profit for the period increased by 12% or RM85 million to RM814 million.

"The group's EBITDA of RM1.24 billion for the current quarter, therefore, represented 14% increase from RM1.09 billion recorded in the corresponding quarter,' it said.

Commenting on its prospects, PC G said that moving forward, the results of its operations were expected to be primarily influenced by fluctuations in international petrochemical products prices, global economic conditions and utilisation rate of its production facilities.

'The board expects the plant maintenance activities to be at a reduced level for the remaining quarters in the current financial period.

'Consistent with previous periods, the Olefins and Derivatives segment will continue to be the key contributor to the Group's results. Subject to sufficient availability of methane gas supply, we expect that the results of our operations for the financial period ending Dec 31, 2011 to be satisfactory,' it said.

PCG had on March 2, 2011 announced the change of financial year end from March 31 to Dec 31 beginning from April 2011. As a result, there is no equivalent comparative quarters.

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