Petra Foods' profits tumble by 81% to US$3m in Q3

Weaker consumer sentiments and regional currencies battered earnings.

According to OCBC, Petra Foods reported underwhelming results in Q3 as operating profit plummeted about 81% to approximately US$3m. The slowdown in Indonesia economy and its resulting negative impact on consumption in September as well as Q3 coupled with continued faltering of regional currencies against USD battered the company.

Due to the settlement with Barry Callebaut over the sale of Petra Foods’ Cocoa Ingredients business in 2013, an exceptional charge of US$19.5m was recognised. Petra Foods asserted that as a result, the company suffered a net loss of US$5.5m in September, as compared to US$36.4m in the same month of 2014.

In Q3, Petra Foods generated a net loss of US$20.7m on the back of lower YoY operating performance resulting mainly from weak consumption in Indonesia coupled with raised tax expense and the exceptional charge. Excluding the one-off item, Petra Foods would have suffered through a net loss of US$1.2m.