Continuing on its growth trajectory since second quarter 2018, Petronas Dagangan Berhad (PDB) registered an increase of 1% in sales volume for the quarter ended 31 December 2018, against corresponding quarter last year.
In line with higher sales volume and increase in average selling prices, revenue for the quarter rose by 10% to RM7,901.4 million against the corresponding quarter in the preceding year. However, due to the significant decline in petroleum product prices in November and December 2018, PDB’s Profit Before Tax (PBT) decreased to RM70.1 million as compared to the corresponding quarter in the preceding year.
PDB's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dato' Sri Syed Zainal Abidin said, “The fourth quarter was challenging as crude oil and petroleum product prices began to decline sharply, affecting PDB’s overall profitability. We managed to minimise the impact by pushing for sales volume growth while focusing on our inventory management, supply and distribution efficiency as well as operating expenditure optimisation.”
Overall, for the financial year ended 31 December 2018, PDB’s revenue increased by 10% to RM30,068.8 million against the corresponding year. For the same period, PBT decreased by 18.1% to RM1,117 million due to the significant decline in MOPS price trend experienced in the fourth quarter, resulting in lower gross profit.
The financial year ended 31 December 2018 also saw PDB growing its volume in its Retail, LPG and Lubricant businesses.
For the full year period, retail business recorded a 0.5% increase in sales volume, backed by impactful marketing campaigns and enhanced customer experience, while gross profit decreased by 2.1% mainly due to decline in petroleum product prices in the fourth quarter of 2018. LPG business registered a 1.2% increase in sales volume, however gross profit declined by 23.3% due to higher product cost. Lubricant business increased its sales volume by 0.3% while gross profit declined by 2.0%.
Commercial business registered a decline in both sales volume and gross profit by 1.2% and 4.5% respectively due to lower volume registered for diesel as customers shifted to Retail segment, as well as lower demand for Jet A-1 due to fuel efficient aircrafts and efficiency measures undertaken by the airline companies.
“Moving forward, we are cautious of the challenging landscape ahead given the continued volatility of oil price and introduction of weekly fuel prices. We will focus on strengthening our network and dealer management, leveraging on our recently launched superior product, namely PETRONAS Primax 95 with Pro-Drive, ramping up our digitalisation and marketing efforts as well as enhancing our services to consistently deliver a seamless and frictionless experience for our customers,” Dato Sri Syed Zainal added.
PDB has declared an interim dividend of 25 sen per ordinary share for the quarter ended 31 December 2018. For the financial year 2018, PDB has declared total dividend of 70 sen per ordinary share, which represents 86% payout ratio.
