Panther Metals Regulatory News (PALM)

30 September 2013

Asian Plantations Ltd

("APL" or the "Company")

Interim Results for the Six Months ended 30 June 2013

Asian Plantations Limited (LSE: PALM), a palm oil plantation company with operations in Malaysia, is pleased to announce its unaudited results for the six month period ended 30 June 2013.

Highlights

§ US$963,000 of revenue reported (2012: US$1,186,000), a decrease of 18%, based on production and sale of 7,460 tonnes of fresh fruit bunches ("FFB"), 2012: 6,065 tonnes of FFB. Despite rising volumes, the decrease in revenue is attributable to: (i) lower international crude palm oil ("CPO") pricing; (ii) unfavourable exchange rate movements; and (iii) a delay in issuance of regulatory approvals to process third party FFB. The necessary local approvals were subsequently received in June 2013 and the Company's processing of third party FFB has grown strongly from 7,919 tonnes in July 2013 to 16,271 tonnes PCM in August 2013and has exceeded 23,000 tonnes for the month of September 2013.

§ Total assets have increased to US$198.9 m.

§ The Company expects to sell in excess of 26,000 tonnes of CPO and approximately 5,000 tonnes of palm kernel ("PK") in the second half of 2013.

Post-Balance Sheet Events

§ Issuance of final two tranches of the convertible bond totaling US$10,000,000 to OCBC Bank on 14 and 23 August 2013. Terms remain unchanged from those previously announced and the total US$15,000,000 convertible bond has an effective conversion price of 285 pence per share based on current exchange rates.

§ Completion of the Company's final land acquisition of 3,852 hectares, Grand Performance Sdn Bhd, on 21 August 2013.

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Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Income Statement

for the six-month period ended 30 June 2013

* Amount less than USD1,000

Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

for the six-month period ended 30 June 2013

* Amount less than USD1,000

Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Statement of Financial Position as at 30 June 2013

Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

for the six-month period ended 30 June 2013

Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

for the six-month period ended 30 June 2013

Notes to the Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements - 30 June 2013

1. Corporate information

The interim condensed consolidated financial statements for the six months ended 30 June 2013 were authorised for issue in accordance with a resolution of the directors on 30 September 2013.

Asian Plantations Limited (the "Company") is a limited liability company incorporated and domiciled in the Republic of Singapore and listed on the Alternative Investment Market ("AIM") of the London Stock Exchange.

The registered office of the Company is located at No.14 Ann Siang Road, #02-01, Singapore 069694.

The principal activity of the Company is that of investment holding. The principal activities of the subsidiaries are development of oil palm plantation and operating of an oil palm mill.

2. Basis of preparation and changes to the Group's accounting policies

Basis of preparation

The interim condensed consolidated financial statements for the six months ended 30 June 2013 have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting.

The interim condensed consolidated financial statements are unaudited and do not include all the information and disclosures required in the annual financial statements, and should be read in conjunction with the Group's annual financial statements as at 31 December 2012.

The financial statements are presented in United States Dollars ("USD") to facilitate the comparison of financial results with companies in the oil-palm industry and all values are rounded to the nearest thousand ("USD'000") except when otherwise indicated.

New standards, interpretations and amendments thereof, adopted by the Group

The accounting policies adopted in the preparation of the interim condensed consolidated financial statements are consistent with those followed in the preparation of the Group's annual financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2012, except for the adoption of new standards and interpretations effective as of 1 January 2013.

The nature and the impact of the new standard/amendment is described below:

IAS 1 Presentation of Items of Other Comprehensive Income - Amendments to IAS 1

The amendments to IAS 1 introduce a grouping of items presented in other comprehensive income (OCI). Items that could be reclassified (or recycled) to profit or loss at a future point in time (e.g., net gain on hedge of net investment, exchange differences on translation of foreign operations, net movement on cash flow hedges and net loss or gain on available-for sale financial assets) now have to be presented separately from items that will never be reclassified (e.g., actuarial gains and losses on defined benefit plans and revaluation of land and buildings). The amendment affected presentation only and had no impact on the Group's financial position or performance.

3. Significant accounting judgements and estimates

The preparation of the consolidated financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities, and the disclosure of contingent liabilities at the end of the reporting period. However, uncertainty about these assumptions and estimates could result in outcomes that could require a material adjustment to the carrying amount of the asset or liability affected in the future periods.

3.1 Judgements made in applying accounting policies

In the process of applying the Group's accounting policies, management has made the following judgements, apart from those involving estimations, which has the most significant effect on the amounts recognised in the consolidated financial statements:

Fair value of biological assets (nursery)

The biological assets are stated at fair value. Management made the judgement that cost approximates fair value of the biological asset for nursery because little biological transformation has taken place since its initial cost incurrence. The carrying amount of nursery as at 30 June 2013 was USD1,729,000 (31 December 2012: USD1,742,000). 

3.2 Estimates and assumptions

The key assumptions concerning the future and other key sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date, that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next financial year are discussed below. The Group based its assumptions and estimates on parameters available when the consolidated financial statements were prepared. Existing circumstances and assumptions about future developments, however, may change due to market changes or circumstances arising beyond the control of the Group. Such changes are reflected in the assumptions when they occur.

(a) Useful lives of property, plant and equipment

There are no changes to the estimated economic useful life of property, plant and equipment of within 5 to 60 years.

(b) Impairment of goodwill

An impairment exists when the carrying value of an asset or cash generating unit exceeds its recoverable amount, which is the higher of its fair value less costs to sell and its value in use. The value in use calculation is based on a discounted cash flow model. The cash flows are derived from projected net cash flows over a period of 25 productive years of oil palms from financial budgets approved by management and do not include restructuring activities that the Group is not yet committed to or significant future investments that will enhance the asset's performance of the cash generating unit being tested. Based on management's analysis, goodwill is not impaired as at 30 June 2013.

3.2 Estimates and assumptions (cont'd)

(c) Taxes

Uncertainties exist with respect to the interpretation of complex tax regulations, changes in tax laws, and the amount and timing of future taxable income. Given the wide range of international business relationships and the long-term nature and complexity of existing contractual agreements, differences arising between the actual results and the assumptions made, or future changes to such assumptions, could necessitate future adjustments to tax income and expense already recorded. The Group establishes provisions, based on reasonable estimates, for possible consequences of audits by the tax authorities of the respective counties in which it operates. The amount of such provisions is based on various factors, such as experience of previous tax audits and differing interpretations of tax regulations by the taxable entity and the responsible tax authority. Such differences of interpretation may arise on a wide variety of issues depending on the conditions prevailing in the respective company's domicile.

The carrying amount of income tax recoverable and income tax payable at 30 June 2013 was USD116,000 (31 December 2012: USD99,000) and USD31,000 (31 December 2012: Nil), respectively.

Deferred tax assets are recognised for all unused tax losses, unabsorbed capital and agricultural allowances to the extent that it is probable that taxable profit will be available against which the losses, unabsorbed capital and agricultural allowances can be utilised. Significant management judgement is required to determine the amount of deferred tax assets that can be recognised, based upon the likely timing and the level of future taxable profits together with future tax planning strategies.

4. Seasonality of operations

The Group's plantation operations are affected by seasonal crop production, weather conditions and fluctuating commodity prices. As a result, the comparison of half-year to half-year results may not be a good indicator of the overall trend of the Group's plantation operations or of the results for the whole of the financial period.

5. Segment information

The following tables present revenue and profit information about the Group's operating segments for the six months ended 30 June 2013 and 2012, respectively: