SINGAPORE — Wilmar International Ltd.’s net profit for the second quarter of 2018 ended June 30 was $351.8 million, equal to 5¢ per share on the common stock, up from $36.1 million, or 0.9¢ per share, in the same period as last year.
Revenue for the quarter increased slightly by 2% to $10.8 billion, due to higher sales volume and commodity prices form the Oilseeds & Grain businesses.
“The trade tensions between the U.S. and China improved crush margins in the short term, thus benefitting our oilseeds crushing business,” said Kuok Khoon Hong, chairman and chief executive officer of Wilmar. “However, a prolonged trade war between the two countries will have a negative impact on crush margins due to lower plant utilization. Nevertheless, we expect our other businesses such as consumer products, rice and flour milling to perform reasonably well in the coming quarters.”
For the first half of 2018, profit improved by 63% to $535.3 million, compared to $329.1 million. Revenue for the second half increased 4% to $21.97 billion.
The Oilseeds & Grains segment posted a pretax profit $290.2 million, up compared $60.3 million in the second quarter of 2017. Overall sales volume hit 7.5 million tonnes, up 7% compared with 6.7 million tonnes. Wilmar attributes the sales increase to higher volume and good crush margins.
Wilmar’s business activities include oil palm cultivation, oilseed crushing, edible oils refining, sugar milling and refining, manufacturing of consumer products, specialty fats, oleochemicals, biodiesel and fertilizers as well as rice and flour milling. At the core of Wilmar’s strategy is an integrated agribusiness model that encompasses the entire value chain of the agricultural commodity business, from cultivation, processing, merchandising to manufacturing of a wide range of branded agricultural products. It has more than 500 manufacturing plants and an extensive distribution network covering China, India, Indonesia and some 50 other countries. The group has a multinational workforce of about 90,000 people.
