Its revenue was down by 12% to RM14.36 billion versus RM16.37 billion previously as the group effectively retained its sales volume during the market downturn caused by the pandemic and supported by the subsequent market recovery in the second half of 2020.
Its basic earnings per share stood at 20 sen against 35 sen.
“The results of the group’s operations are expected to be primarily influenced by global economic conditions, petrochemical product prices which have a high correlation to crude oil prices, particularly for the olefins and derivatives segment, utilisation rate of our production facilities and foreign exchange rate movements.
“The Covid-19 pandemic continues to adversely affect the global economy and PChem was also not spared,” it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.
The company added that the utilisation of its production facilities is dependent on plant maintenance activities and sufficient availability of feedstock as well as utilities supply.
However, the group will continue with its operational excellence programme and supplier relationship management to sustain plant utilisation level at above the industry benchmark.
In a statement today, managing director/chief executive Sazali Hamzah said 2020 had been an exceptionally challenging year.
“The impact of the Opec+ fallout and Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in supply chain disruption and dampened demand which caused a deep economic recession.
“Despite the tough environment, we delivered a positive set of results. We finished the year strongly, thanks to our unwavering focus on operational and commercial excellence, supported by the Q4 2020 recovery momentum.”
Sazali noted that in the last quarter, petrochemical product prices recovered further on improved crude oil prices coupled with demand growth, fuelled by an optimistic economic outlook.
For the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020, PChem’s net profit rose to RM466 million compared with RM340 million in the same period previously while revenue shed to RM3.84 billion from RM4.23 billion.
Meanwhile, the directors of the company have declared a second interim single tier dividend of seven sen per ordinary share, amounting to RM560 million in respect of the financial year ended Dec 31, 2020 (2019: second interim single tier dividend of seven sen per ordinary share).
The dividend is payable on March 25 to depositors registered in the records of depositors at the close of business on March 11. PChem’s share price was unchanged at RM7.55 on Bursa Malaysia at 2.20pm today.