Golden Agri-Resources sinks into the red with US$53.92m Q3 loss

GOLDEN Agri-Resources slipped into the red for the third quarter despite an increase in revenue.

The leading palm oil producer posted a net loss of US$53.92 million for the three months ended Sept 30, a reversal from a net profit of US$43.68 million for a year-ago period.

Loss per share for Q3 was 0.42 US cent compared to earnings per share of 0.34 US cent for the same period the previous year.

Third-quarter revenue was 3.2 per cent higher at US$1.84 billion on strong palm product output recovery.

The firm's palm product output recorded a quarterly growth of 30 per cent to 917,000 tonnes for the three months to Sept 30.

It's nine-month net loss was US$81.09 million.

The firm said its operating performance was mainly affected by softer crude palm oil (CPO) prices and the weakening of certain currencies against the US dollar.

Its foreign exchange loss for Q3 almost tripled to US$28.68 million, up from US$7.43 million for the same quarter last year.

The firm also posted other operating loss of US$1.01 million for Q3, reversing from other operating income of US$20.51 million for the previous corresponding period. This was mainly due to a loss in fair value of biological assets in line with lower CPO prices compared to a gain for the year-ago period.

While CPO prices remain subject to market conditions and externalities including changing weather and government policies, the firm said it expect the demand for palm oil to remain stable, supported especially by an increase in biodiesel consumption in Indonesia.

It added that it "will continue to enhance its integrated operation capabilities to optimise profit opportunities across the value chain".

Golden Agri-Resources closed at 24.5 Singapore cents on Monday, down 0.5 Singapore cent.