KUALA LUMPUR: Boustead Holdings Bhd posted a lower net profit of RM43 million on a revenue of RM3.2 billion for the first quarter ended March 31 2023.
Its bottom line was impacted by weaker contributions from its divisions, said Izaddeen Daud, its group chief executive officer.
"Despite current challenges, the fact that we continued to drive revenue generation is testament to the viability of the group's diversified core businesses.
"We will continue to build on this to strengthen our resilience and unlock value moving forward. In tandem, we are focused on prudent cost management to enhance operational efficiencies and achieve better profit margins," he said in a statement today.
The trading, finance and investment division was the strongest contributor to the group for the quarter under review, with a pre-tax profit of RM31 million.
This was lower than the previous year's corresponding quarter, primarily due to a decrease in stockholding gain recorded by Boustead Petroleum Marketing on the back of lower average fuel prices.
Affin Bank Bhd recorded a better performance arising from a higher writeback of impairment losses and an increase in net income.
The plantation division posted a pre-tax profit of RM14 million, compared with RM510 million in the same quarter last year, benefitting from a one-off gain on disposal of plantation lands amounting to RM364 million.
Lower palm product prices also impacted the division and negatively affected the valuation of fresh fruit bunches.
The pharmaceutical division turned in a reduced pte-tax of RM9 million. This was mainly attributable to lower demand from customers in both the concession and Indonesian segments.
The heavy industries division incurred a pre-tax loss of RM48 million, arising from lower contributions from its ship repair segment and higher unrealised foreign exchange loss.
Meanwhile, the property and industrial division posted a pre-tax loss of RM22 million, compared with a pre-tax profit of RM39 million achieved in the same quarter last year which was boosted by the sale of industrial land.
"We will continue to tap into opportunities to accelerate value creation.
"This includes implementation of performance improvement programmes to strengthen our core businesses, alongside exploring new revenue streams and streamlining non-strategic assets to drive the sustainable long-term growth of the group," said Izaddeen.