Olam pops the champagne on 62% surge in sales volumes

Thanks to wheat sales spike.

According to Citi, 9M13 NPAT grew to SS$306m, +17% YoY (or +20% YoY ex biological gains and exceptional items to S$251m). 

9M13 accounts for 74% of Citi's full year estimates, in the range of the 70-74% contribution ratio from 9M earnings in the past four years.

Here's more from Citi:

It is interesting to note 9M13 published NPAT is just 9% lower than street's NPAT estimates of S$336m for full year FY13. Growth was driven by the 62% YoY rise in overall volumes to 11.7mt (helped by a spike in wheat/grains at its food staples/packaged food segment where it recorded volume growth of 114% YoY).

While its overall net contribution pool grew 23% YoY, margins using NC/ton as a proxy reduced 23% YoY to S$99/t as wheat offers lower margins than its aggregate portfolio(NC/ton for food staples/packaged foods declined 25% YoY to S$61/t).

There was a sharp YoY recovery in earnings from the industrials segment as cotton continues to normalize vs a brutal FY12.