Plantations Very Ripe For A Robust Run, Watch IJM Plantations

If you were to read the latest sector reports on CPO, you'd get probably 70% neutral/under weight calls on the sector. The sharper investors would have noted that the outlook of the sector is better than most would think. Selective smaller players have been improving their yields and margins. Genuine corporate exercise to create value and add liquidity have boosted some of the related counters.
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The Rimbunan Sawit story has not ended, although the cream of the best returns may be buying just before the recent corporate exercise. Still one cannot and should not deny the compelling valuations still. The most undervalued stock on KLSE is probably Jaya Tiasa, and possibly the most illiquid as well. Its transformation into a CPO centric cum timber play has not registered in most investors' radar. But the illiquidity is barring investors from having a reasonable exposure.


SOP is another recent giant killer. The profits have been superb. The recent 9 months profits almost doubled from the previous 9 months. Again the cream of the return would have been buying around RM4.50 a few weeks back, still there should be another ringgit in it.


Its Not All About The CPO Price
Many are maintaining CPO forecast at RM2,850-3,000/t for 2012E based on a weak global outlook. On a sustained global recovery, CPO price could overshoot with upside of up to RM3,200-3,400/t.


CPO is also correlated to the other soft commodities such as soyabean, even corn and wheat. That has been missing from a lot of analysis. We can expect soy oil and CPO prices to be well supported due to supply constraints issues from related crops due to lower production from US and China as well as potentially lower soybean planting in the Mar-31 US planting intention as corn wins more acreage. 
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Moderation in CPO supply growth from 9% in 2011E to 4% in 2012E due to reversal in the biological yield upcycle, further exacerbated by La Nina conditions. Analysts have been too timid and cautious in their estimates of effectes of La Nina, and overplaying the impact from E.U. crisis.


Downside risk includes the removal/scale back/delay of bio-fuel mandates/subsidies; Non renewal of US subsidies for ethanol and bio-diesel which expires in Dec-11, will cap upside /soften edible oil prices; 


Valuation Implied Currently
The implied CPO price at current levels for most listed CPO counters is RM2,600-2,700/t. Hence all things being equal, the entire sector is overdue for an upgrade of at least 10%. The solid results from mid-smaller players have encouraged more foreign funds, we can expect confidence to return more convincingly.  Foreign shareholding level has been slowly rising, from 15.3% in Dec-10 to 17% in Dec-11.   

I see a weaker growth in SEA palm oil production and normal demand expansion which will set the stage of a bull market in 1H2012. I would not be shocked if  Malaysian palm oil will hit RM3,600-3,800 by June 2012 on strong demand chasing tight supply. CPO prices is going to RM3300 in January/Feb on output made worse by top producers Indonesia and Malaysia entering a flat phase in the oil palm biological cycle tht lasts between 6-9 months.

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Analysts Revising As We Speak

I know of a couple of houses about to revise their sector outlook positively even as I write this. This should be an excellent time to load up on plantations. Several positive factors are emerging that might encourage investors to turn bullish on palm oil stocks. The first factor is the weather, specifically, flooding brought about by high rainfall because of the La Nina effect, which might cause production to drop. Just as an indicator, the most recent La Nina in January and February this year, caused production to drop by up to 40%. Typically, a hectare can yield between 1.8 and 2 tonnes of so-called “fresh fruit bunch” (freshly harvested palm oil fruits, before processing). During the last La Nina, this measurement fell to between 1.15 and 2 tonnes per hectare.

Still on the positive side, if OilWorld, an industry research bureau, is correct, global demand for crude palm oil is expected to grow over the next 12 months by 6.8% on year. By contrast, global production is only expected to increase at a slower pace of 4.9%. According to forecasts by OilWorld, the biggest demand growth will come from Indonesia, with an expected demand of 6.82 million tonnes for 2011-2012, up 12.4% compared to the likely 6.07 million tonnes for 2011. Malaysia’s consumption is also expected to grow strongly: up 15.9% between 2011 and 2012, reaching 2.28 million tonnes.

The current La Niña weather pattern has been causing very hot and dry weather in South America which has lead to a late rally in the grain markets after decreased global demand had been driving commodity prices lower.

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Soft Commodities Prices

Corn prices increased by 7.7% in December and closed at $6.47 per bushel. Soybean prices increased 5.9% this month to $11.98 per bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. The USDA estimated that domestic soybean exports decreased by 25 million bushels to 1.3 billion bushels due to a slow pace of shipments, outstanding sales through November, and strong export competition from South America. Soybean prices had decreased 1.9% to $11.10 after the USDA WASDE report release, but the outlook of the South American crop is deteriorating quickly as reports of the La Niña are causing extreme dry heat for the top yielding corn and soybean land of Argentina, Brazil, and the rest of Latin America.
Wheat prices were sent 9.7% higher during December to $6.53 per bushel due to increased speculative buying and the correlation to soybean and corn prices. 


If you note the charts of the 3 soft commodities, it is all perking up with strong volume growth over the last few weeks. Birds of the same feather, people.
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SOYA BEAN FUTURES
CORN FUTURES
WHEAT FUTURES

http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/ZW/ 

Why IJM Plantations

One, its in the right sector. Two, its volume build up looks great. Three, its Indonesian plantations should bring about significantly higher returns over the next 12-24 months. Four, and most probably, IJM Corp/EPF have been "rumoured" to be keen to take IJM Plantations private, especially in light of the Indonesian factor. The exercise will be highly EPS accretive and value driven from all angles. A G.O. if it happens should be in the range of RM3.60 at least.

Even if the corporate exercise does not happen, the over-riding positives should lift the stock a lot higher from here anyway. Plus, did you know that there is only ONE company issued plantation warrant on the whole of the Malaysian market, yup, IJM Plantation-W.


1
IJM Corporation Berhad
441,832,715
55.11%
2
Citigroup Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd
101,257,219
12.63%
3
Desa Plus Sdn Bhd
37,000,000
4.62%
4
HSBC Nominees (Asing) Sdn Bhd
23,109,268
2.88%
5
Amanahraya Trustees Berhad
20,334,100
2.54%
6
SG Plantations (Sabah) Sdn Bhd
19,953,947
2.49%
7
Sakilan Desa Sdn Bhd
17,040,000
2.13%
8
Malaysia Nominees (Tempatan) Sendirian Berhad
13,902,943
1.73%
9
Citigroup Nominees (Asing) Sdn Bhd
7,719,971
0.96%
10
Amsec Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd
6,576,502
0.82%



2011/2012 Quarterly Financial Highlights:-
Click on the respective quarters
to view the Financial Result Announcements (PDF format)
20112012
1st Qtr
(75 KB)
2nd Qtr
(77 KB)
3rd Qtr
(81 KB)
4th Qtr(162 KB)1st Qtr
67 KB)
2nd Qtr
(66 KB)
OPERATING REVENUERM'000113,255133,633160,42698,970128,351180,933
PROFIT BEFORE TAXRM'00038,76864,69259,83032,72666,38762,880
PROFIT ATTRIBUTABLE TO OWNERS OF THE COMPANY
RM'000
29,89547,33644,04525,91549,47446,883
ISSUED SHARE CAPITALRM'000400,672400,672400,673400,673400,856400,857
SHAREHOLDERS FUNDSRM'0001,193,7681,234,9141,270,2401,306,0171,291,8371,352,330
TOTAL ASSETSRM'0001,413,2131,432,3021,495,8421,504,2821,568,0421,567,551
EARNINGS PER SHARE (Basic)Sen 3.735.915.503.236.175.85


Today, IJM Plantation rose 11 sen with 3.622 million shares traded, a highly significant jump if you are a value momentum trader.

03/01/20122.822.81 - 2.852.85+0.03 (1.06%)578,300
30/12/20112.812.81 - 2.832.82+0.01 (0.36%)1,243,300
29/12/20112.812.78 - 2.822.810.00 (0.00%)250,700
28/12/20112.802.78 - 2.812.81+0.01 (0.36%)11,100
27/12/20112.822.80 - 2.802.80-0.02 (0.71%)3,500
23/12/20112.792.78 - 2.852.82+0.03 (1.08%)694,800
22/12/20112.782.77 - 2.802.79+0.01 (0.36%)63,500
21/12/20112.762.76 - 2.782.78+0.02 (0.72%)26,400
20/12/20112.802.76 - 2.802.76-0.04 (1.43%)505,800

IJMP currently has a total landbank of 78,116ha and a total planted landbank of 38,805ha with an average age of 9.4 years as at 31 Mar 2011.


NOTE: The above opinion is not an invitation to buy or sell. It serves as a blogging activity of my investing thoughts and ideas, this does not represent an investment advisory service as I charge no subscription or management fees (donations are welcomed though). The content on this site is provided as general information only and should not be taken as investment advice. All site content, shall not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or financial instrument. The ideas expressed are solely the opinions of the author. Any action that you take as a result of information, analysis, or commentary on this site is ultimately your responsibility. Consult your investment adviser before making any investment decisions.

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