Golden Agri's 3Q profits get a boost from tax credit

PATMI stood at $311.2m compared to a previous $23.22m loss.

Golden Agri-Resources reported its revenue rising 16.6% YoY to US$1.84b and PATMI was at US$219.7m ($311.2m) vs. a net loss of US$16.4m ($23.22m) in 3Q15.

PATMI during the quarter brought 9M16 PATMI to US$353.3m ($499.7m), thanks to a stimulus from the deferred tax income arising from the increase in tax depreciable value of its plantation assets.

OCBC Investment Research notes that the net tax impact from this revaluation of assets was US$111m ($157.14m) during the quarter and US$242m ($343m) for 9M16.

For a clearer view on operational performance, EBITDA, which also excludes changes in fair value and FX, was up 29% to US$165.2m ($234m) in 3Q16.

For 9M16, EBITDA was slightly down 2% to S$393m, due to a muted 2Q16 showing.

9M16 revenue reached US$5.1b ($7.2b).

Moving forward, OCBC Investment Research expects the firm to continue seeing such tax benefits in 4Q16 following government approvals, while keeping in mind that this is a one-off item and will not be repeated in FY17.