Singapore-based agribusiness giant Wilmar International on Monday posted a near 6 percent drop in third-quarter profit, hurt by weaker results in the tropical oils and sugar businesses.
The company, which is involved in oil palm cultivation and edible oils refining, said net profit aatributable to shareholders fell to US$370 million for the quarter ended September 30 from US$392.2 million in the corresponding period last year.
Revenue for the quarter inched up 0.4 percent to US$11.1 billion, supported by increased sales from oilseeds & grains, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Tropical oils posted a 51 percent slump in pretax profit to US$83.1 million in the quarter, mainly due to lower processing margins. Production yield for plantations improved 12 percent to 5.2 metric tonnes.
Sugar business saw a 13 percent decline in pretax profit due to the timing effect from the new sugar marketing programme in Australia.
But oilseeds & grains registered a pretax profit of US$253.7 million in the third quarter from US$248.1 million last year, driven by higher crush volume and good crush margins.
""We expect the good performance in the Oilseeds & Grains segment to continue into the fourth quarter, with crush margins
and volume anticipated to remain positive," said Kuok Khoon Hong, Chairman and CEO in a statement.
Shares in the company ended up 0.3 percent at S$3.32 on the Singapore Exchange. The stock has gained 3 percent in a one-year period.
