Golden Agri Q3 profit drops 80.1% to US$43.7m on FX losses, lack of tax credit

GOLDEN Agri-Resources' third-quarter net profit fell 80.1 per cent to US$43.7 million, or 0.34 US cent per share, on the back of foreign exchange losses and the absence of tax credits.

The palm oil producer has declared an interim dividend of 0.693 Singapore cent per share payable on Nov 29. Golden Agri stock closed at 40 Singapore cents on Monday.

For the nine months to Sept 30, net profit fell 70.8 per cent to US$103.1 million, or 0.81 US cent per share, the company announced on Tuesday before the market opened.

Revenue over the first nine months of the year grew 10.1 per cent to US$5.6 billion on the back of higher average crude palm oil prices and improved palm production.

But the company incurred a foreign exchange loss of US$3.7 million during the first nine months. That was down from a US$50.5 million gain in the year-ago period, when the Indonesian rupiah rallied against the US dollar and Malaysian ringgit hedges contributed fair-value gains.

Other operating income for the nine-month period also fell 49.5 per cent to US$32.4 million from US$64.2 million due to lower market prices and lower net increase in fresh fruit bunch productions. Golden Agri's other operating income comes mostly from fair value changes in biological and financial assets, income from sales of seedlings, fixed assets and other materials, as well as rental income.

The year-ago bottom line also benefited from a US$215.1 million net tax credit for the nine-month period from recognition of deferred income tax assets as the company revalued some of its plantation assets in Indonesia. For the comparable 2017 period, Golden Agri incurred instead a US$41.1 million net tax expense.