Towards resilient and sustainable growth The Group’s performance was impacted by normalising CPO prices after their historic highs in the previous year, coupled with sluggish global demand, with the average price shrinking to RM3,874 per metric tonne (MT) in 2023 compared with 2022’s RM5,066 per MT. The Group’s average palm kernel prices reduced significantly by RM1,053 per MT to RM2,103 per MT from RM3,156 per MT in 2022. The downward trend in palm product prices led to the Group’s revenue moving downward by 28% or RM325 million to RM852 million, while profit before taxation and zakat stood at RM71 million. The Group’s agile and stringent management of operational costs slightly offset the effect of the unfavourable pricing. We were able to maintain our gearing ratio at 0.3 times and our earnings per share stood at 1.9 sen, while our market capitalisation increased to RM3.5 billion as at 31 December 2023. On 23 January 2024, BPlant was delisted from Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad following the privatisation by Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera. OPERATIONAL LANDSCAPE The Group continued to pursue efforts to maximise productivity at our 42 plantation estates across Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak, comprising a planted landbank of 72,200 hectares (ha). In 2023, we focused on palm age profile management and boosting yield and oil extraction rate (OER), in tandem with our long-term plan to efficiently mitigate the impact of maturing palms. Our adherence to good agricultural practices coupled with the successful implementation of our Group-wide Plantations Performance Improvement Programme (PPIP 2.0) as well as strategic replanting efforts, have allowed us to bolster our productivity, driving our OER above the national average. The PPIP 2.0 has been pivotal in refining our operations and leveraging technology to progressively shore up the overall yield profile of our estates. This was further complemented by alleviated labour woes. These efforts enabled us to successfully reduced the underperforming fields from 185 to 129 fields. Yield disparities in Peninsular Malaysia improved from 37% to 50%, while the Sabah region showed a slight decline in performance, from 62% to 55%. During the year under review, we observed an uplift in yield from 13.0 MT per ha to 13.9 MT per ha, primarily due to heightened replanting in Sabah, which also nudged our OER from 20.6% to 20.8%. Preserved pocket jungle in the vicinity of Telok Sengat Estate, Johor Integrated Report 2023 029
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