MAINBOARD-LISTED Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) posted a 27.8 per cent decrease in net profit to US$65 million for the three months ended June, down from US$90 million in the previous corresponding period.
Revenue for the period improved 10.4 per cent to US$2.6 billion.
For the first half, there was a drop in net profit to US$102 million, down from US$182 million in the previous corresponding period.
Revenue for H1 was up 5 per cent to US$5.1 billion, from US$4.9 billion in the year-ago period.
The company, which cultivates, harvests and processes palm oil, said in a bourse filing on Tuesday (Aug 13) that the profit decline was chiefly due to higher financial expenses and unrealised foreign-exchange loss.
Financial expenses for the six-month period increased 18.6 per cent to US$122.1 million, while foreign-exchange loss amounted to US$48.3 million, compared to a gain of US$16.9 million in the year-ago period.
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However, increased sales for its downstream segment – which consists of the processing and merchandising of palm oil products among others – helped raise revenue. It posted an 11 per cent rise in sales volume, contributing US$5.1 billion in revenue.
GAR noted that this segment’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) were US$282 million with a “robust” margin of 5.5 per cent, and constituting 57 per cent of the group’s consolidated Ebitda.
Earnings per share stood at US$0.0081 for the half year, down from US$0.0144 the previous year.
Shares of GAR closed flat on Tuesday at S$0.265, before the results were released.
