MARKET DEVELOPMENT
New Britain Palm Oil Six-month Pre-tax Profit Down - Quick Facts
New Britain Palm Oil Six-month Pre-tax Profit Down - Quick Facts
07/08/2013 (RTT News) - New Britain Palm Oil Limited (NBPO.L) announced its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2013. Profit before income tax for the period declined to $23.22 million from last year's $66.44 million last year.
Profit attributable to Equity holders of the company for the period decreased to $13.05 million from last year's $45.94 million. Profit per share was $0.087, compared to $0.308 last year. Earnings per share excluding IAS 41 were 4.4 cents compared to 29.5 cents for the same period last year.
The decrease in profitability was due to the lower average selling prices achieved for CPO and PKO, offset by the implementation of several cost saving measures and currency depreciation in the Papua New Guinea Kina or PGK against the US Dollar. The movement in the USD-PGK exchange rate has resulted in losses of $14.2 million in the first half as compared to $10.0 million of currency gains in the same period last year. However the Group's cash cost per tonne of oil produced from own estates was some 18% lower than this time last year, equating to a cost decline of approximately $22 million year on year. Operationally the company expects FFB production and oil extraction rates to normalise in 2014.
Despite shipping some 17,500 tonnes more oil than the comparative period, revenue for the period fell by 15.7% to $308.7 million from last year's $366.1 million due to lower average selling prices achieved.
The Board declared an interim dividend for 2013 of $0.10 per share. The dividend will be payable 15 November 2013 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on 18 October 2013. The ex-dividend date for the dividend is 16 October 2013.
Profit attributable to Equity holders of the company for the period decreased to $13.05 million from last year's $45.94 million. Profit per share was $0.087, compared to $0.308 last year. Earnings per share excluding IAS 41 were 4.4 cents compared to 29.5 cents for the same period last year.
The decrease in profitability was due to the lower average selling prices achieved for CPO and PKO, offset by the implementation of several cost saving measures and currency depreciation in the Papua New Guinea Kina or PGK against the US Dollar. The movement in the USD-PGK exchange rate has resulted in losses of $14.2 million in the first half as compared to $10.0 million of currency gains in the same period last year. However the Group's cash cost per tonne of oil produced from own estates was some 18% lower than this time last year, equating to a cost decline of approximately $22 million year on year. Operationally the company expects FFB production and oil extraction rates to normalise in 2014.
Despite shipping some 17,500 tonnes more oil than the comparative period, revenue for the period fell by 15.7% to $308.7 million from last year's $366.1 million due to lower average selling prices achieved.
The Board declared an interim dividend for 2013 of $0.10 per share. The dividend will be payable 15 November 2013 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on 18 October 2013. The ex-dividend date for the dividend is 16 October 2013.