Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) edged lower in afternoon trading on Wednesday as investors continued to digest the plantation group’s latest earnings, which were hit by a one-off impairment linked to its investment in Synthomer plc.
As at 2:56pm, KLK fell 8 sen or 0.36% to RM21.84, after opening at RM21.00. The counter touched an intraday high of RM21.90 and a low of RM21.00, with 481,700 shares traded.
KLK had on Tuesday reported a loss after tax and minority interest (LATAMI) of RM668.0 million for the nine months ended June 30, 2026, compared with a PATAMI of RM721.3 million a year earlier.
The reported loss was largely due to a one-off RM1.62 billion non-cash impairment on its equity carrying cost in associate Synthomer.
For the third quarter, KLK recorded a LATAMI of RM1.34 billion compared with PATAMI of RM346.6 million in Q3 FY25.
However, excluding the Synthomer impairment and its share of losses from the associate, KLK said 9M FY26 PATAMI would have risen 43% to RM1.12 billion from RM785.1 million previously.
For Q3 FY26, underlying PATAMI would have stood at RM444.8 million, up from RM347.1 million a year earlier.
The group said the impairment was non-cash and non-operational, with no expected impact on its cash flow or dividend outlook.
KLK’s core businesses continued to support its underlying performance, with the Plantation and Manufacturing segments contributing to the quarterly results.
KLK Chief Operating Officer Lee Jia Zhang said, “To remove the overhang that distorts the Group’s continued strong fundamental performance, it is important that we provide certainty and clarity to our stakeholders by the decisive move to impair Synthomer. Moving forward, while we continue to equity account, our carrying cost is significantly marked down to RM190 million.”
