SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Golden Agri-Resources on Tuesday (March 1) posted a 71.2 per cent growth in net profit to US$323 million (S$438 million) for the second half ended Dec 31, 2021, up from US$188.6 million in the corresponding year-ago period.

The palm oil company's revenue for the period surged 55.3 per cent to US$5.73 billion from US$3.69 billion a year ago.

The group said the higher revenue was mainly due to strong international crude palm oil prices, higher production output and improved margins in its downstream business.

Earnings per share (EPS) for the second half was at 2.54 US cents, up from 1.49 US cents in the second half of financial year 2020. This brought EPS for FY2021 to 3.75 US cents, an increase from 0.25 cent in the previous year.

The board has proposed a final dividend of 1.077 cents per share, bringing the total dividend for FY2021 to 1.605 cents per share. The final dividend is set to be paid out on May 17, subject to the approval of shareholders.

Revenue for the full fiscal year was recorded at US$10.18 billion, up 43.9 per cent from US$7.08 billion in FY2020. Net profit for the full 2021 financial year soared to US$476.2 million, up from US$31.8 million in FY2020.

Golden Agri chairman and chief executive officer Franky Widjaja noted that worldwide edible oil supply remained tight in FY2021 as the economy was recovering gradually, and said he expected the tight vegetable oil situation to persist.

To work around this, the group said it will continue to enhance its integrated operations to optimise profit opportunities across the value chain. Golden Agri also has plans to improve its yield, cost efficiency and sustainability initiatives.

Shares of Golden Agri were trading up one cent, or 3.5 per cent, to 29.5 cents at 9.13am on Tuesday after its earnings announcement.