KUALA LUMPUR: Ancom Nylex Bhd’s net profit more than doubled to RM15.14mil in the third quarter ended Feb 28 (3Q22) from RM7.08mil a year ago.

       Its revenue for the quarter rose 31% to RM510.01mil from RM389.2mil a year prior.

       For the quarter under review, the agricultural chemicals (agrichem) segment reported revenue of RM98.2mil, improving by 15.5% year-on-year (y-o-y).

       Correspondingly, segmental earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) amounted to RM19mil, up 84.3% y-o-y from RM10.3mil recorded in the preceding year’s corresponding quarter.

       The segment’s EBIT margin expanded by 7.2 percentage points from 12.1% in 3Q21 to 19.3% in 3Q22.

       Its industrial chemicals division reported revenue of RM371.9mil in 3Q22, improving from RM262.5mil last year. However, segmental EBIT decreased marginally from RM9.4mil to RM9.1mil over the same period.

       For the first nine months to Feb 28, Ancom Nylex posted a net profit of RM36.25mil on revenue of RM1.44bil.

       “The sustained growth momentum was mainly supported by our agrichem division, which saw an increase in orders from export markets as well as Malaysia,” managing director and group CEO Lee Cheun Wei said in a statement.

       “Plantation operators worldwide have been working hard to fulfil the rising food demand, indirectly resulting in the surge in herbicides prices.

       Moreover, the two new agrichem active ingredients rolled out earlier have also contributed to our bottom-line increase,” he added.

       “Looking ahead, we remain upbeat on the prospects of the agrichem business following our visits to key export markets in recent months. Overall, we anticipate demand from countries such as Thailand, Brazil, and Malaysia to increase.

       “By year-end, we plan to introduce more high-value and sought-after active ingredients to the market, further improving the profitability of the group,” Lee said.