KUCHING: Sarawak Oil Palms Bhd’s (SOP) earnings for the first quarter of 2016 (1Q16) soared more than four times to RM25.03 million from RM5.45 million seen the previous quarter.
The plantation company in a filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday said 1Q16 revenue jumped by 64 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM1.035 billion from RM630.87 million registered in 1Q15.
SOP in its accounts notes explained that the higher revenue for 1Q16 was attributed to higher trading volume of palm oil products transacted by the group.
The company noted that the group’s increase in profit before tax for 1Q16 was attributed to higher sales volume of palm oil products transacted by the group and gain on fair value changes of RM16.7 million from outstanding derivatives contracts.
On a quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) basis, SOP said the group posted a total revenue of RM1.036 billion in 1Q16 as compared with RM1.36 billion reported in 4Q15 ended Dec 2015, a decrease of 23.8 per cent q-o-q.
The group noted it reported a profit before tax of RM31.6 million for 1Q16 compared with RM59.7 million reported in 4Q15, a decline of 47 per cent q-o-q.
The lower profit was attributed to lower volume of palm products sold in spite of palm products price improvement.