Mewah sees revenue hit 11 year high, but profit slips slightly

Mewah reported that it had a sales volume of about $4.2 million metric tons (MT), down 14.6% from 4.82 million MT last year.

Despite the lower sales volume, higher selling prices (47.7% higher y-o-y) pushed Mewah’s revenue to cross the US$4 billion mark for the first time since 2011.

However, although Mewah achieved a higher operating margin of US$54.6 per MT compared to US$49.9 last year, the lower sales volume resulted in total operating margin decreasing 6.4% to US$225.1 million.

Mewah points out in the announcement, that crude palm oil (CPO) prices continued to remain bullish, reaching a record high of RM 5,437 per tonne in November 2021.

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“These high CPO prices were driven primarily by lower supplies due to labour shortages and adverse weather conditions. Our teams remained focused on running our operations safely while maximising the operating margins prevailing due to bullish prices and congested supply chains,” it adds.

Mewah also notes that the processors and packers at its destination markets continued having good demand, which enabled its Bulk segment to deliver higher operating margins at US$49.5 per MT for the year.

On the other hand, the shortage of containers drove global container freight rates to historical highs, with its Consumer Pack segment having to “navigate these supply chain constraints”.

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This, along with high input costs, led to reduced operating margins at US$69.0 per MT”, the results announcement added.

With the results, Mewah has proposed a final exempt dividend of 0.81 cent per share, which along with an interim dividend of 0.27 cent, makes up a total dividend of 1.08 cent per share for the full year.

Shares of Mewah closed at 43 cents on Feb 28, up 1.5 cents or 3.61% higher than its previous close.