KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 — Fraser and Neave Holdings Bhd’s (F&N) net profit decreased to RM383.21 million in the financial year ended September 30, 2022 (FY2022) from RM395.16 million posted in FY2021.

Revenue, however, increased by 8.2 per cent to RM4.47 billion from RM4.13 billion previously underpinned by strong domestic demand in Malaysia and Thailand, price adjustment strategy and the first full-year contribution from its food business, the company said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.

It said improved revenue and cost management measures, including price and trade discount adjustments, had significantly mitigated the impact of higher commodity and freight costs, flood recovery expenses and foreign exchange translation loss from a weaker Thai baht.

The food and beverage (F&B) company said in Malaysia, out-of-home (OOH) consumption rose progressively with the end of the Movement Control Order.

It said successful trade execution and price adjustment exercise supported F&B Malaysia revenue growth, which increased by 13.5 per cent to RM2.42 billion.

"Higher revenue, improved margins and operational savings realised from completed projects led to growth in F&B Malaysia operating profit, up by 71.9 per cent to RM168 million (FY2021: RM97.7 million).

"This was also supported by contribution from exports due to better region and product mix as well as foreign exchange gain despite registering lower volume mainly to Greater China amidst Covid-19 restrictions and price-sensitive markets this year,” it said.

F&N said it has recommended a final single tier dividend of 33 sen per share, similar to those in FY2021, and if approved by the boards, the total dividend for the year would amount to 60 sen per share, which is similar to FY2021.

In a separate filing, chief executive officer Lim Yew Hoe said F&N strategies enabled the group to re-establish itself on a stronger footing during the second half.

"Admittedly, the first half of the year was tough due to rising commodity prices and the impact of the floods on our Shah Alam operations.

"While our overall bottomline was impacted, it has been greatly mitigated by the effective strategies we had put in place to manage market risk and exposure,” he said.

He said the group is on track with its long-term strategies to raise cost efficiency and build up its fourth business pillar, Halal Packaged Food.

"The insight here is that the group has much more potential to move forward and continue growing in the future,” he added. — Bernama