First Resources profit plunged 41.1% to US$34.2m in Q4

It blamed average selling prices which fell despite high sales volumes.

First Resources’ profits (withered) in Q4 2017 as they fell 41.1% YoY from (US$58m) to (US$34.2m). For the whole year, however, its profits grew 48.5% from (US$125.4m) to (US$186.2m).

According to its financial statement, profit from operations was down by 31.8% to US$59.8m, impacted by lower average selling prices. However, sales rose 3.2% to US$180.8m due to higher sales volumes.

According to RHB Research, fresh fruit bunches (FFB) output grew 13.3% YoY in FY17. The broker thinks FFB growth will hit 13.4% for 2018.

RHB noted that the crude palm oil (CPO) price rose by 3% YoY in 2017, to average US$603/tonne. “For every MYR100/tonne change in CPO price, we estimate its earnings would be impacted by 4-5% per annum,” it said.

RHB also added that First Resources’ downstream margins improved in Q4 2017 to 2.7%. “This came on the back of higher selling prices (+6% YoY) and higher sales volumes (+13% YoY). We expect downstream margins to stay in the positive territory of 3-4% going forward, given the stabilising palm kernel (PK) and palm kernel oil (PKO) price trend,” RHB added.

The surprise came in the form of a special dividend declared for its 25th anniversary. Net DPS for 2017 is at 6.8 cents, or a net dividend payout of 60%, implying a net yield of 3.9%.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia