Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) has reported earnings of US$197.6 million ($265.6 million) in the FY2023 ended Dec 31, 2023, 74.7% lower y-o-y.
Earnings per share (EPS) stood at 1.56 US cents for the year.
Revenue for the FY2023 fell by 14.7% y-o-y to US$9.76 billion due to lower crude palm oil (CPO) prices and offset by higher sales volume. Revenue for the 2HFY2023, however, rose with higher palm product output and lower fertilizer costs, which offset the lower CPO prices.
In FY2023, the average CPO free on board (FOB) price fell by 28% to US$901 per metric tonne, down from the average of US$1,248 per metric tonne in FY2022.
Gross profit fell by 38.8% y-o-y to US$1.85 billion while ebitda fell by 49% y-o-y to US$986 million.
During the year, fresh fruit bunches (FFB) production fell by 5% y-o-y to 9.59 million tonnes as production for both nucleus and plasma fell.
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FFB yield also fell by 3% y-o-y to 19.7 tonnes per hectare.
Palm product output was down by 4% y-o-y to 2.94 million tonnes as crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel (PK) production fell during the year.
A final dividend of 0.613 cents per share has been proposed for FY2023, down from the 1.791 cents per share declared in FY2022. The proposed final dividend will be paid on May 16.
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As at Dec 31, 2023, cash and cash equivalents stood at US$317.6 million.
In its full year earnings briefing on Feb 28, the group says that the slight decline in its product outputs was partly because of its fairly aggressive replanting program. With almost half of its planted area being between seven to 18 years old, Golden Agri targets to replant 15,000-20,000 hectares for the coming year.
Meanwhile, it also expects the production target for 2024 to remain flat, due to its aggressive continuous replanting programme, and a lagging impact in its production due to the El Nino weather conditions.
As weather conditions are “fairly erratic”, the group says that its difficult to predict its impact on production moving forward. The group’s Kalimantan plantations were the areas most affected by El Nino, compared to its Malaysia plantations.
Finally, the group expects to see a normalisation in CPO prices for 2024.
Shares in GAR closed flat at 27.5 cents on Feb 27.
