SINGAPORE (Nov 12): Wilmar International, the agribusiness group, reported an 10.7% increase in 3Q earnings to US$407.4 million ($564 million) from a year ago.
The stronger performance was driven by better results in Tropical Oils and Oilseeds & Grains and supported by higher share of results of affiliates but offset by losses recorded by the group’s discontinued operations in Brazil as part of the newly acquired subsidiary in India, Shree Renuka Sugars.
Revenue for the quarter increased 4% to US$11.61 billion (3Q2017: US$ 11.13 billion), supported by higher sales volumes across all of the group’s businesses.
Tropical Oils reported a 93% increase in pretax profit to US$155.5 million in 3Q18, boosted by stronger performance from the manufacturing and merchandising business. The higher palm oil production volume also led to improvements in downstream margins.
Oilseeds & Grains saw pretax profit increase 17% to US$296.9 million due to strong crush margins with higher volume and good performance from Consumer Products.
Sugar reported a 2% increase in pretax profit to US$76.4 million, driven by stronger performance in the merchandising business, partially offset by losses incurred by the discontinued Brazilian operations.
Joint Ventures & Associates saw pretax profit increase 30% to US$66.4 million, mainly from the group’s investments in Africa, China, Europe and Vietnam.
Kuok Khoon Hong, Chairman and CEO, says, “We expect most of our operations to continue to do well in the coming quarter, due to generally better processing margins. Overall, we are cautiously optimistic that performance for the rest of the year will be satisfactory.”
Year to date, shares in Wilmar are trading 4 cents higher at $3.18.
