Bumitama Agri (BAL) P8Z has seen a “year of two halves” for the FY2022 ended Dec 31, 2022, with the first half dominated by the price rally in palm oil and the recovery in production. The second half of the year, however, saw normalising prices and a low-cycle production anomaly due to the intensifying extreme weather conditions with the first “triple-dip” La Nina seen for three straight years from 2020 to 2022.
During the 2HFY2022, BAL reported earnings of IDR647.37 billion ($57.2 million), 47.7% lower than the IDR1.24 trillion seen in the 2HFY2021. This was due to the weakening of crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel (PK) sales prices following the export ban imposed by the Indonesian government earlier during the year. The lower earnings were also attributable to the Indonesian government’s effort to flush out the country’s overflowing stockpiles of CPO, coupled with the increase in fertiliser and fuel prices during the period.
However, FY2022 earnings increased by 64.2% y-o-y to IDR2.83 trillion as revenue and gross profit grew due to the higher CPO prices and higher sales volume of palm products during the year.
Earnings per share (EPS) for the 2HFY2022 and FY2022 stood at IDR371 and IDR1,618 respectively.
2HFY2022 revenue increased by 0.7% y-o-y to IDR6.86 trillion as the group’s CPO segment grew, offsetting the decline in its PK segment.
Gross profit for 2HFY2022 fell by 14.5% y-o-y to IDR1.96 trillion as cost of sales for the period grew by 8.4% y-o-y to IDR4.9 trillion. Gross profit margin (GPM) for the 4QFY2022 fell by 13.5 percentage points to 20.8%.
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Profit before tax for 2HFY2022 fell by 39.0% y-o-y to IDR1.29 trillion.
FY2022 revenue increased by 29.2% y-o-y to IDR15.83 trillion as both segments grew.
FY2022 gross profit increased by 65.8% y-o-y to IDR5.73 trillion. GPM for the year rose by eight percentage points y-o-y to 36.2%.
Ebitda for the FY2022 rose by 63% y-o-y to IDR5.69 trillion while ebitda margin rose by 7.3 percentage points y-o-y to 35.9%, remaining at an eight-year high.
FY2022 profit before tax increased by 59.6% y-o-y to IDR4.57 trillion.
As at Dec 31, 2022, cash and cash equivalents stood at IDR826.21 billion.
During the year, the group’s total fresh fruit bunch (FFB) harvest grew by 15.0% y-o-y to 5.33 million tonnes.
Fresh fruit bunch (FFB) yield grow by 15.0% y-o-y to 21.4 tonnes per hectare as FFB nucleus and FFB plasma grew.
FFB external grew by 15.7% y-o-y to 1.47 million tonnes.
CPO production also grew by 13.0% y-o-y to 1.19 million tonnes.
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PK production increased by 12.5% y-o-y to 250,935 tonnes.
Oil extraction rate (OER) fell by 0.3% y-o-y to 22.3%.
A final dividend has been declared, but payment will be subject to the approval of the group’s shareholders at the upcoming annual general meeting (AGM) on April 20.
As at 9.25am, shares in BAL are trading 4 cents lower or 6.2% down at 60.5 cents.
