LONDON (Alliance News) - Asian Plantations Ltd Tuesday said its loss widened in the first half of the year, as a sharp increase in revenue thanks to sales of crude palm oil was more than offset by higher costs.
The palm oil company reported a pretax loss of USD11.1 million for the six months to June 30, wider than the USD7.9 million loss it reported a year earlier, even though revenue rose to USD18.9 million, from just USD963,000. Its gross profit was lower as cost of sales, mainly related to its milling, jumped, while it also booked higher administrative expenses.
Asian Plantations is currently the subject of a takeover bid from FELDA Global Ventures Holdings Berhad, which has already had valid acceptances from shareholders with about 59.9% of Asian Plantations stock.
Asian Plantations shares were down 1.2% at 215.00 pence Tuesday morning.
By Steve McGrath; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @stevemcgrath1
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Panther Metals (PALM)