Wilmar's Q3 earnings up 6% to US$568.7m

AGRIBUSINESS Wilmar International's net profit for the quarter to September rose 6 per cent to US$568.7 million. Its core net profit jumped by 15 per cent to a record high US$576.4 million since it listed on Singapore Exchange mainboard.

The bottom line, hit by investment securities losses, diluted the core net profit, said the company in a regulatory filing on Friday (Oct 29).

The company said its results improved as the Feed and Industrial Products, and Plantation and Sugar Milling segments turned in better performances.

Boosted by good manufacturing margins and stronger demand for downstream tropical-oils products, sales of tropical oil products (under the Feed and Industrial Products segment) rose by 4.9 per cent to 5.9 million metric tonnes in the quarter, but weaker soybean crushing and sugar merchandising activities tamped down on overall sales for the segment by 17.5 per cent to 13.6 million metric tonnes.

The company said due to firmer palm oil and sugar prices, the Plantation and Sugar Milling segment was able to perform well, but it also noted that higher raw material cost continued to weigh on Food Products segment, as the time lag in selling-price adjustments affected overall margins. Driven by demand for flour and rice products, 7.5 million metric tonnes in total volume were sold by Food Products, up marginally by 0.7 per cent.

Consumer products sales in China were lower, due partly to the recovery of the food-and-beverage segment; as the pandemic was brought under control there, more people started dining out, so the sales volumes for medium pack and bulk products rose by 5.5 per cent to 5.2 million metric tonnes. The sales volume for consumer products fell by 9.1 per cent to 2.2 million metric tonnes.

The company's share of results from the joint ventures and associates in China, India and South-east Asia was also lower during the quarter.

The core net profit and total earnings both improved by 15.1 per cent year on year, with the core at US$1.31 billion and net profit at US$1.32 billion for the first 9 months of FY 2021.

The company said it expects satisfactory performance for the rest of the financial year.

The counter traded down S$0.04 at S$4.32 on Friday (Oct 29), before the quarter's results were published.