Noble Group Q3 net profit soars (Amended)

UNBURDENED by its poorly-performing agriculture unit, Noble Group recorded a third-quarter net profit leap by nearly seven times to US$153.9 million.

A year ago, the figure was US$22.9 million.

Revenue rose 7 per cent to US$23.3 billion, from US$21.8 billion a year ago, as the largest commodity trader in Asia increased its volumes by a third.

Noble closed the sale of a 51 per cent stake of Noble Agri to a consortium led by China's largest grain trader Cofco on Sept 30.

Said its CEO Yusuf Alireza: "We are pleased to be able to report an all-time record nine-month operating profit from supply chains, especially as this has been achieved before the partnership initiatives with Cofco, X2 Resources and Harbour Energy kick in."

The firm is giving a special dividend of US$0.03 a share, to be distributed in December.

The counter closed closed at S$1.20 on Friday, up 1 cent.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Noble Group's Q3 revenue rose 7 per cent to US$23.3 million from US$21.8 million a year ago. It in fact rose 7 per cent to US$23.3 billion from US$21.8 billion. The article above has been revised to reflect this.