PETALING JAYA: Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd’s net profit in its third financial quarter ended March 31, 2022 (3Q22), leapt nine times to RM307.54mil from RM32.03mil in the previous corresponding quarter.

       The oil and gas exploration and production group reported revenue of RM297.06mil, a 37.54% increase over RM215.98mil in 3Q21.

       Earnings per share rose to 15.32 sen compared with 1.76 sen in the previous comparative quarter.

       The board of directors declared an interim dividend of one sen per share for shareholders on the register on June 22 and payable on July 22.

       According to Hibiscus Petroleum, a negative goodwill of RM317.3mil was recognised upon the January 2022 completion of its acquisition of the entire equity interest in Fortuna International Petroleum Corp (FIPC)

       It said the newly acquired assets in FIPC group have boosted the group’s net production to about 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day.

       Consequently, the group expects to deliver approximately 4.6 million boe of oil, condensate and gas from its producing assets for FY22.

       “Our objective in recent months has been to focus on understanding the newly acquired Repsol assets so that we can operate these safely and efficiently.

       “This is the first quarter for which we are reporting operational and financial metrics which include the newly acquired assets and we expect our numbers to further improve in the coming months against a backdrop of strong oil prices,” said Hibiscus Petroleum managing director Kenneth Pereira.

       He added that with the relatively high crude oil prices, the group hopes to be able to close FY22 ending June 30 on a positive note.

       For the nine-month period, the group made a net profit of RM397.55mil on revenue of RM828.15mil, which represents year-on-year increases of 535% and 50% respectively.