[SINGAPORE] Bumitama Agri posted on Thursday (May 15) a 51 per cent rise in net profit to 495.9 billion rupiah (S$38.9 million) for the first quarter of 2025, from 328.4 billion rupiah in the previous corresponding period.
Revenue for the quarter rose 18.6 per cent year on year to reach 4.6 trillion rupiah, from 3.9 trillion rupiah. The palm oil plantation group said in a bourse filing that the rise was due to higher commodity prices and improved palm production during the quarter.
Crude palm oil prices rose 26 per cent on the year to an average of 14,694 rupiah per kilogramme in the quarter. Palm kernel prices surged 94 per cent from the year before, reaching 10,947 rupiah per kg. Bumitama Agri said that the increased prices offset lower sales volume in the quarter as inventories rose.
Meanwhile, the group said that palm oil production had normalised following a pent-up spike in the fourth quarter of 2024. Fresh fruit bunch harvests from both nucleus and plasma estates yielded 783,698 tonnes in a 2.6 per cent rise from the previous corresponding period. This corresponded to 4.3 tonnes per hectare (ha), up from 4.2 a year earlier. It added that the total planted area was 187,000 ha with an average age of 14.8 years, comprising 124,000 ha of nucleus estates and 63,000 ha of plasma estates. Of the total area, 96.5 per cent was mature.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rose 36 per cent on the year to one trillion rupiah from 743.2 billion rupiah.
The group said in its investor presentation that despite extreme weather volatility during the period, its precision agronomic practices had enabled improved operational efficiency to soften the blow. Additionally, better growth prospects in the industry, as observed through robust palm oil prices, had offered the group sufficient cash flow to deleverage substantially.
Bumitama Agri announced a final dividend amounting to S$0.0544 a share for FY2024, following unanimous approval in its annual general meeting in April. Including the interim dividend distributed in September 2024, the group said its total payout ratio would reach 60 per cent of the full year’s net profit, its highest on record. In FY2023, Bumitama Agri’s board paid a final dividend of S$0.0363 a share and a special dividend of S$0.0192 a share.
The counter was trading S$0.005 or 0.7 per cent higher S$0.76 at around 9.15 am, after the announcement.
