Golden Agri-Resources' Q1 profit hit by forex loss

SINGAPORE-LISTED Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) on Monday posted a slump in first-quarter earnings despite higher revenue, dragged down by a loss on foreign exchange.

Net profit for the three months ended March 31 was down 60.1 per cent year on year to US$37.6 million with a US$1.2 million forex loss recorded, in contrast to the US$51.9 million forex gain in the year-ago period.

Revenue grew 37 per cent to more than US$2 billion, supported by the appreciation of crude palm oil market prices coupled with the continued recovery in palm production as the impact of El Nino eased.

Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) was 28.8 per cent higher year on year at US$182.8 million.

The group's financial position strengthened with an adjusted net gearing ratio of 0.40 times as at end-March 2017, while total consolidated assets grew to US$8.4 billion.

Said Franky Widjaja, the group chairman and chief executive officer: "GAR has started 2017 well with stronger performance from our upstream business. We continue to take advantage of GAR's combined strengths in the upstream and downstream businesses to pursue positive market developments. For the rest of the year, we expect performance to be supported mainly by increasing production volume."