15/2/078 SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore-listed Wilmar International Ltd. , an Asian palm oil refiner, on Thursday said its quarterly profit more than doubled and that it expected to continue to benefit from strong demand for palm oil.

"We expect palm oil prices to remain favourable due to the growing demand for food and energy globally. Palm oil production in Indonesia and Malaysia will continue to increase rapidly," it said, adding that it would expand palm merchandising and processing as well as increase its plantations.

Wilmar -- which in December announced a $4.3 billion deal to buy plantation and agri-business assets in Malaysia -- said in a statement that it earned net profit of $36.3 million in the fourth quarter, up from $14.4 million in the year-ago period.

Full-year 2006 net profit reached $104.6 million, up from $58.0 million a year earlier and beating the forecast average of $95 million from seven analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients that while the results were ahead of market expectations, the figures were unlikely to trigger a market reaction as investors would focus on its planned merger.

Six analysts polled by Reuters Estimates before Thursday's results expect Wilmar to make net profit of around $215 million this year.

The December deal, with PPB Group , Kuok Group and Wilmar's parent Wilmar Holdings, is set to be completed by the second quarter of 2007 and would more than double its landbank to 573,405 hectares (1.4 million acres) -- or nine times the size of Singapore.

U.S. agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland Co is a significant shareholder in Wilmar, which owns palm plantations and operates milling, crushing, refining and processing plants in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Wilmar is also on its way to becoming one of the world's top palm-based biodiesel producers.

The first of its three 350,000-tonne biodiesel plants, in Indonesia, was due to start operations in early 2007. By the end of 2007, all the plants are expected to be up and running, taking its biodiesel production capacity to a total of 1.05 million tonnes.

Shares in Wilmar have more than doubled in value since Aug. 8, when they started trading after a reverse takeover of Ezyhealth Asia Pacific. The company has a market capitalisation of about US$4.1 billion.

According to Reuters data, Wilmar shares trade at 40 times their 2007 forecast earnings, far more expensive than Archer Daniels' 14 times and its Malaysian peer Golden Hope Plantations' 21.4 times.