REG - Anglo-Eastern Plant - AGM Statement

Anglo-Eastern PlantationsAnnouncement

16/06/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 8823C  Anglo-Eastern Plantations PLC  16 June 2023

16 June 2023

 

 

Anglo-Eastern Plantations Plc

("AEP" or the "Company")

 

AGM Statement

 

 

The 38th Annual General Meeting of Anglo-Eastern Plantations Plc will be held
at the offices of UHY Hacker Young LLP, 6(th) floor Quadrant House, 4 Thomas
More Square, London E1W 1YW at 11am today.

 

At the meeting, the Chairman will comment on current operational performance
and development as well as the outlook for the remainder of 2023.

 

Operational and financial performance

 

For the first five months ended 31 May 2023, our own production of fresh fruit
bunches ("FFB") from continuing operations was 420,300mt, a decrease of 5%
compared to the same period in 2022 (five months to May 2022: 443,800mt on a
like-for-like basis). FFB production from discontinued operations was 12,200mt
against 17,000mt for the corresponding period last year. The plantations in
Kalimantan with younger palms performed reasonably well, up 4% against last
year while plantations with older palms in North Sumatera, Riau and Bengkulu
experienced a large drop in production of between 9% to 20%. The production in
Bengkulu was also affected by replanting activities which reduced matured
areas by 1,675 hectares replanted from 2022 to May 2023. Lower production in
Sumatera was mainly due to seasonal variation and a shift in crop pattern as
the same was experienced by our neighbouring plantations. Rainfall levels were
better than last year, except for Riau and Kalimantan.

 

FFB bought in was 404,000mt, a decrease of 13% in comparison with the same
period last year (five months to May 2022: 466,000mt). Lower external crop
bought in was due to lower crop production of all the plantations in the
region, inline with the drop in our own plantations. Total Crude Palm Oil
("CPO") production for the first five months of 2023 was 169,200mt, 10% lower
than the corresponding period in 2022 (five months to May 2022: 187,000mt).

 

The CPO ex-Rotterdam price averaged $1,006/mt for the first five months to 31
May 2023, 39% lower than the average price of the corresponding period in 2022
(first five months to May 2022: $1,650/mt). Similarly, the average ex-mill
price of CPO achieved was $768/mt, a 28% decline compared to the corresponding
period in 2022 (first five months to May 2022: $1,064/mt). The lower CPO price
was due to the lack of demand caused by the high inventory of vegetable oil
stocks especially a glut in sunflower and canola leading to CPO trading at a
premium against some of the softoils.

 

Development

 

AEP has plantations across Indonesia and Malaysia, amounting to approximately
90,700 hectares from continuing operations, of which approximately 68,570
hectares including plasma are planted. For discontinued operations, AEP has
37,300 hectares of plantations in which 7,750 hectares including plasma are
planted. The Group's new planting and replanting including Plasma for the
first five months ended 31 May 2023 was 916 hectares (five months to May 2022:
371 hectares).

 

As previously announced, the Group expects a delay in completion to the
operational date for the newly built, seventh mill in North Sumatera,
Indonesia. This is following the incident at the HPP mill causing a tragic
loss of lives of four employees of the contractor, while they were working on
the Anaerobic Tank Digester. The HPP plantation's operation in the production
of FFB is unaffected by this incident, and the Group expects no financial
impact as a result of this incident of the delay. The police are still
conducting their investigation into the cause of the explosion and the Group
continues to expect the delay in handing over will be approximately six
months.

 

The design of the earthworks for the site selected for the construction of the
second mill in Kalimantan has been completed. Work will start after the
approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment ("EIA") which is now at the
stage of evaluation by the Department of Environment ("DOE"). The approval of
the EIA is expected to be received in Q3 2023.

 

Outlook

 

The CPO price ex-Rotterdam closed at $890/mt on 2 June 2023, representing a
decrease of 16% from the start of the year at $1,060/mt. We expect a further
reduction in CPO prices as crop production improves further in the second half
of the year.

 

Note: The information communicated in this announcement is inside information
for the purposes of Article 7 of Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014 as it forms
part of domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

 

 

For further enquiry, contact:

Anglo-Eastern Plantations Plc

Dato' John Lim Ewe
Chuan
+44 (0)20 7216 4621

 

 

Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited

Dominic Morley / Amrit Mahbubani
                                                      +44
(0)20 7886 2500

 

 

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