FGV plants seeds for RM100b revenue

By Sharen Kaur

BOSTON: Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) will acquire new businesses and increase plantation acreage and crude palm oil (CPO) production to achieve its revenue target of RM100 billion.

    FGV manages 853,000ha of plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia.  Last year, the company produced 3.21 million tonnes of CPO.

    According to president and chief executive officer Mohd Emir Mavani Abdullah, FGV aims to manage more than one million hectares of plantations.

    It also plans to increase CPO production to above four million tonnes.

    "To be a RM100 billion turnover company, we need to grow by eight times. We plan to achieve this by increasing  investments in upstream and downstream activities. Downstream is more of a defence strategy to protect upstream volatility.

     "We are scouting for plantations in Southeast Asia. We are looking at oil palm estates in Indonesia and rubber plantations in Cambodia."

   Mohd Emir said FGV is also eyeing new markets in China and investments in India and eastern Africa.

   He was speaking  after the commemoration of FGV's oleochemical plant in Quincy, here, last Wednesday.

    FGV is worth about RM16.56 billion based on current market capitalisation.

   For fiscal year 2013, FGV's net profit surged 21.72 per cent to RM980.99 million, despite the tough economic conditions. Revenue for the full year was  RM12.6 billion.

    Its cash and near cash as at end-December stood at RM5.02 billion.

   FGV is engaged in five main business  clusters, namely plantation (palm oil and rubber), sugar, downstream, research and development, and manufacturing and logistics.

    It operates in more than 10 countries, including the United States, Canada, Turkey, China, Indonesia, Australia and others in Europe.

   FGV produces soyabean and canola products as well as oleochemicals at its facilities in the US, a multi-seed crushing plant in Canada and  palm oil refineries and downstream processing facilities in Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Turkey and South Africa.

    Its subsidiary, MSM Holdings Malaysia Bhd, produces 57 per cent of Malaysia's domestic refined sugar supply.