Golden Agri-Resources Q3 profit rises 17% to US$124 million on higher output and palm oil prices

[SINGAPORE] Palm oil producer Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) posted a 17 per cent quarter-on-quarter rise in net profit for the third quarter ended Sep 30 to US$124 million, from US$106 million.

For the nine-month period, net profit rose 29 per cent to US$284 million, from US$220 million the year before.

On Thursday (Nov 13), the company attributed its performance to improved plantation output and a 17 per cent rise in crude palm oil prices.

Revenue for the third quarter grew 9 per cent to US$3.4 billion, from US$3.1 billion the quarter before. For the nine-month period, revenue increased 21 per cent to US$9.5 billion, from US$7.9 billion in the year-ago period.

“Higher output helped capitalise on the stronger prices, while a modest increase in downstream volume further supported revenue growth,” GAR said.

It added that foreign exchange gains in the third quarter were recorded at US$8 million, compared to a loss of US$17 million in the previous corresponding period.

The upstream segment contributed to earnings growth, the company said. “Although merchandising volume has improved since the second quarter, downstream performance remained affected by a competitive market environment.”

Fruit yield for the nine-month period rose 6 per cent year on year, from 12.8 to 13.6 tonnes a hectare, supported by favourable weather conditions.

“This translated into a total fruit output of 6.7 million tonnes, with a corresponding increase in palm product output of 6 per cent to almost two million tonnes,” GAR said.

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Shares of GAR closed flat at S$0.28 on Wednesday.