FGV will only participate in deals with good returns, says CEO

Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) will only participate in business ventures that will bring good returns to the group and investors, said president and CEO Datuk Zakaria Arshad.

"We must ensure our decisions are based on the interest of our stakeholders, as well as, the group as a whole," he told reporters after presenting business tithes to deserving recipients here today.

Yesterday, FGV announced it had terminated the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between its subsidiary, Felda Global Ventures Downstream Sdn Bhd, and Innogas Technologies Sdn Bhd and US-based Newlight Technologies LLC.

The MoU was to produce biodegradable plastics from palm oil biomass waste in Malaysia.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia, FGV said it was unable to reach acceptable terms.

"We didn't just simply terminate the MoU, we did it after a thorough review of the details, especially in terms of its return.

"What's important now is for us to focus on our core business. If there are new opportunities, we will have a look and find out if it will give good returns to the group and our stakeholders," said Zakaria.

For Ramadan this year, FGV has allocated RM462,000 to be given out as business tithes to deserving recipients, and out of the total, RM242,000 have been distributed to 400 recipients from the Klang Valley area today.

"The remainder will be divided among several zones including Pasir Gudang, Kuantan, Prai, as well as, Felda Sahabat and Kalabakan in Sabah," said Zakaria.

Earlier, FGV announced that it had allocated RM14.8 million in business tithes for the year.

Commenting on FGV's second quarter performance, Zakaria expected the group to post better results driven by cost-cutting measures and good weather which would have improved fresh fruit bunch production.

For the first quarter ended March 31, 2016, FGV posted a pre-tax loss of RM70.35 million compared with a pre-tax profit of RM72.88 million in the same period last year.

However, its revenue rose to RM3.75 billion from RM2.71 billion.