KUALA LUMPUR: Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd will make a significant investment in its Shah Alam factory to set up a pioneering manufacturing facility for plant-based meals.
This was an area of high strategic priority for the Nestlé group worldwide, said Nestle Malaysia chief executive officer Juan Aranols.
The facility would be Nestle's first such facility in Southeast Asia, said Aranols in a statement on its latest interim results today.
"We have a very strong innovation pipeline across categories that will further support our performance in months to come. We continue to invest in the future, as reflected by our robust plans and expansion into new categories with high-growth potential.
"We can now disclose that a significant investment is going into our Shah Alam factory where we are building a pioneering manufacturing facility for plant-based meal Solutions. We are honoured to host Nestlé's first facility in Southeast Asia that will support growth locally and for export markets," he added.
Nestle Malaysia saw its net profit drop in the second quarter but Aranols said its performance had remained solid in absolute terms.
Its net profit declined 32.7 per cent to RM105.53 million in the second quarter (Q2) ended June 30, 2020 from RM156.89 million a year ago.
The company said this was due to severe operational restrictions on hotel, restaurant and café (HORECA) channels during the Movement Control Order (MCO) and significant Covid-19-related expenses.
The latter was necessary to ensure work safety, support to front liners and ensuring continuity across the value chain.
Its revenue was 8.8 per cent lower at RM1.22 billion from RM1.34 billion previously.
"Despite a temporary contraction versus the baseline period derived from these Covid-19-related challenges, particularly impacting the HORECA channels, we can share that the situation in these channels is progressively improving as Malaysia entered into the recovery MCO phase in June.
"Throughout the quarter, we also ensured strong sales execution and found new and innovative ways to connect with consumers," Aranols said.
He said while the group prioritised its activities to ensure supply of core range of essential products, Nestle Malaysia had also delivered a steady stream of new products that would support its acceleration in the second part of the year.
New products launched in the quarter included the extension of the Starbucks range, Nescafe Gold Origins, Ready-to-Drink products such as Nescafe Ice Cappuccino, Nescafe Cold Brew Hazelnut and Nestle Omega Plus Dark Chocolate, and an important extension into the fast-growing "goreng" noodle segment, the Maggi Goreng new range.
For the first half, Nestle Malaysia's net profit dropped 25.6 per cent to RM291.84 million from RM392.1 million, while revenue eased 4.8 per cent to RM2.65 billion from RM2.79 billion.
Nestle Malaysia declared an interim dividend of 70 sen per share under single tier system, amounting to RM164.15 million, in respect of the financial year ending December 31, 2020.
The dividend will be paid on October 8.