Wilmar International's profits grew 15% to $1.78b in 2019

Growth was driven by higher profits from the Oils and Oilseeds segments.

Wilmar International’s net profits reported a 15% increase to $1.12b (US$1.57b) in 2019. Revenues for the full year slid 4% to $59.74b (US$42.64b), according to its financial statement.

For Q4, the company saw a 120% surge in net profits to $614.19m (US$438.4m), from $279.36m (US$199.4m) in the same quarter in 2018. Meanwhile, revenues for the quarter inched up 1% to $15.76 (US$11.25b).

The expansion in net profits was driven by strong performances from the Tropical Oils and Oilseeds & Grains segments, coupled with the absence of impairment loss in Sugar.

The company’s Tropical Oils segment increased 114% in pre-tax profits to $402.5m (US$287.3m) in Q4, boosted by good performance from merchandising activities and downstream processing margins. For FY2019, the segment‘s profits jumped 54% to $1.18b (US$841.6m).

Meanwhile, the Oilseeds & Grains segment demonstrated a 61% increase in pre-tax profit to $259.74m (US$185.4m) in Q4, driven by improvement in crush margins and the seasonal demand for consumer products.

The Sugar segment, on the other hand saw a lower pre-tax loss of $13.59m (US$9.7m) in Q4, from $163.63m (US$116.8m) in Q4 2018, mainly due to the absence of a $194.18m (US$138.6m) impairment loss in Q4 2018 relating to the milling operations in Australia.

Together with the profits from the refining business in the 9M 2019, the segment reported an overall profit of $3.64m (US$2.6m) for the full year.