KUALA LUMPUR: Affin Hwang Capital Research maintained Sime Darby Plantation Bhd's FY18-20 core earnings forecasts as there were no major surprises to its recent results.It said SD Plantation's 9MFY17 core net profit of RM1.04bil came in within its expectations while revenue was firmer due to a higher contribution from its upstream operations. "SD Plantation’s 9MFY18 revenue rose by 1.7% yoy to RM11.3bn due to an increase in contribution from the upstream plantation business (especially in the Malaysian operation), while the downstream plantation segment revenue was flat yoy. "For 9MFY18, SD Plantation’s FFB production was higher by 6% yoy to 7.8m MT, while its CPO ASP was lower at RM2,604/MT vs. RM2,861/MT in 9MFY17. "The PBT for 9MFY18 surged by 70.2% yoy to RM2,228m, mainly attributable to the gain on disposal of the Malaysian Vision Valley (MVV) land to SD Property for RM676m. "Affin Hwang Research maintained hold on the counter and raised its target price to RM5.58, based on an unchanged price-earnings of 25x on its core 2019E EPS.

Source: The Star June 01, 2018 01:07 UTC