Poultry player Lay Hong Bhd, which has seen its public shareholding spread shrink to just 15 per cent as rival QL Resources Bhd continued buying the former’s shares on the open market, said net profit surged to 6.3 million ringgit (MYR) in the third quarter ended 31 December 2014, from MYR1.05 million a year earlier.

The Star reports that the improved performance was attributed to higher productivity and poultry product prices as well as stable raw material prices.

Revenue for the quarter jumped 21.33 per cent to MYR177.15 million from MYR146 million previously.

According to the company, its integrated livestock farming segment’s revenue increased 24.1 per cent to MYR141.2 million from MYR113.76 million a year earlier on higher productivity and poultry product prices.

For the retail supermarket segment, the opening of two new outlets lifted the sector’s revenue to MYR35.95 million compared with MYR32.21 million previously.

For the nine months ended 31 December 2014, revenue climbed 16 per cent to MYR500.17 million while net profit soared 567 per cent to MYR14.45 million.

According to Lay Hong, chicken and egg prices had remained stable for the past nine months and that prices were projected to remain at this level for the remaining three months of the financial year.

The company said: “Raw material prices are expected to remain stable due to adequate supply of corn and soybean in accordance with the various commodities reports.

“Given this outlook, the group will continue to perform satisfactorily in the remaining quarter.”

Separately, the company said its public shareholding spread shrunk to 15.08 per cent as at 23 February from 16.14 per cent on 10 December 2014. Lay Hong has until 31 March to comply with the required 25 per cent public shareholding spread. It received a six-month extension from Bursa Malaysia in October last year.

To address the matter, the company told The Star it had on 4 February proposed to undertake a private placement of up to 15.75 million new shares, representing up to 30 per cent of its enlarged capital, as well as to replace its existing executive share option scheme to improve its public spread.