Palm oil producer Bumitama Agri (BAL) has reported earnings of IDR632.14 billion ($59.9 million) for the 9MFY2020 ended Sept 30, some 48.8% up from the earnings of IDR424.86 billion posted in 9MFY2019.
Total revenue for the 9MFY2020 rose 12.6% y-o-y to IDR6.08 trillion, while gross profit for the nine-month period rose 33.4% y-o-y to IDR1.54 trillion.
Gross profit margin was up 18.2 percentage points y-o-y to 25.3%.
Net profit increased 43.4% y-o-y to IDR737.33 billion. Earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was up 43.3% y-o-y to IDR1.60 trillion.
Sales revenue for crude palm oil was up 13.3% y-o-y to IDR5.48 trillion, while sales revenue for palm kernel climbed 6.5% y-o-y to IDR595.53 billion.
Sales volume for crude palm oil, however, fell 9.8% y-o-y to 670,073 metric tonnes (MT). Palm kernel, too, fell 10.3% y-o-y to 144,252 MT.
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In its 9M business update released on Nov 10, the group attributes the better performance to the increase in palm oil prices. The group also reported 6.9% higher total cost of sales, which was contributed by the higher average purchase prices of external fresh fruit bunches (FFB), in tandem with the increase of palm oil prices.
FFB yield for 9MFY2020 fell 7.7% y-o-y due to the extreme weather brought about by the lagged effects of El Nino in 2019
It achieved 45% fertilizer application in the 1HFY2020 and the rest will be completed in the 2HFY2020, it says.
The group’s estates and mills have remained in full operation since the start of the social restrictions in Indonesia.
Shares in Bumitama Agri closed 0.5 cent higher or 1.0% up at 51.5 cents on Nov 9.
