Golden Agri Resources back in the black with $1.09m profit in Q3

But weak prices of commodities continued to drag on earnings.

Golden Agri Resources’ net profits recovered to $1.09m (US$801,000) in Q3 after a $73.39m (US$53.92m) loss in Q3 2018, and reversing the $89.9m loss in the previous quarter, according to an SGX filing. Revenue dropped 15% to $2.12b ($1.56b) in Q3 from $2.5b ($1.84b) over the same period last year.

But the quarter’s marginally stronger results were not able to compensate for weaknesses during the first half of the year, with profits booking a $62.05m (US$45.59m) loss for the first nine months of 2019. However, this has narrowed 44% YoY compared to the $110.37m (US$81.09m) loss in 9M 2018.

Also read: Golden Agri Resources' loss widens 70.7% to $64.45m in H1
https://sbr.com.sg/agribusiness/news/golden-agri-resources-loss-widens-707-6445m-in-h1

Lower prices hit on Golden Agri’s revenue. Revenue from their plantation and palm oil mills segment slipped 15.5% YoY to $1.27b (US$929.6m) in 9M 2019. This was attributed to lower CPO prices during the period, partially offset by the higher sales volume due to sell-down of inventory.

Revenue of the palm, laurics and others segment during the nine-month period 2019
reached $6.39b (US$4.7b), 14% YoY lower than last year due to weaker selling prices that were partly compensated by higher sales.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) diminished 19.2% YoY to $145.36m (US$106.8m) in Q3 from $179.89m (US$132.17m) in Q3 2018. This was due to weaker prices and plantation output.

Earnings per share (EPS) stood at $0.0001 in Q3 from a loss of $0.0051 in Q3 2018. For the first nine months of 2019, EPS loss narrowed $44% YoY to $0.0036 from $0.0064 in 9M 2018.