Flooding, commodity rout slash Sime Darby Q2 earnings by 47%

Kuala Lumpur

MALAYSIA'S Sime Darby, the world's biggest listed palm oil producer, said second-quarter net profit slid 47 per cent, hit by a commodities rout, flooding and an oversupply of competing oilseeds.

Malaysian palm oil prices, which set the tone for global prices, fell 9 per cent in the October-December period from a year earlier, the worst quarter in two years. Over 2014, they fell 15 per cent. "The sharp decline in crude oil prices and slowdown in global economic growth have exacerbated the need to push for greater productivity and cost efficiency," Chief Executive Mohd Bakke Salleh said in a statement.