Diversification may be Wilmar's trump card

WHAT had seemed like a ghost of the past has come back to haunt Wilmar International.

After six consecutive quarters of profits in its oilseeds division, its recently released first-quarter results showing negative margins for its soybean processing operations have yet again stunned the market, causing its share price to slide as much as 5.4 per cent to $3.16 amid a few downgrades by analysts. The stock recovered slightly yesterday to end at $3.23.

Wilmar's first-quarter net pro-fit tumbled 49 per cent to US$161.8 million, while revenue was little changed at US$10.3 billion.

Its oilseeds and grains division recorded a pre-tax loss of US$57.4 million, compared with a profit of US$47.2 million a year ago, no thanks to the negative crush margins in China - a stark contrast to the precedi…