Bumitama Agri Q1 profit falls 51% to 429.1 billion rupiah

BUMITAMA Agri posted a 51 per cent drop in net profit to 429.1 billion rupiah (S$40 million) for its first quarter ended Mar 31, from 873 billion rupiah for the previous corresponding period.

The fall in net profit was mainly due to a lower average selling price as commodity prices normalise, coupled with higher fertiliser prices, the Indonesian palm oil producer said in its financial results released on Friday (May 12).

Revenue for the quarter slid 8 per cent on the year to 3.6 trillion rupiah, from 3.9 trillion rupiah a year earlier, as contributions from the group’s palm kernel business fell 58 per cent to 279 billion rupiah.

Revenue contributions from the crude palm oil (CPO) business, however, were up 3 per cent to 3.3 trillion rupiah due to a 19 per cent rise in sales volume after an inventory drawdown. This helped offset a 14 per cent decline in selling price during the period.

The average selling prices for both CPO and palm kernel slipped 14 per cent and 53 per cent year on year, respectively. Meanwhile, production in the first quarter was lower as oil palms entered a normalised low-cycle season, compared with a high base effect last year.

Bumitama Agri’s shares closed 2.6 per cent or S$0.015 higher at S$0.595 on Friday.