A bumper harvest from MP Evans' (MPE) majority-owned Indonesian palm oil plantations wasn't enough to offset a fall in the price of both crude palm oil and cattle - accordingly, group profit tumbled 46 per cent in 2012 to $21.6m (£14.2m).
The crop of fresh fruit bunches did rise 27 per cent in the year, exceeding targeted volume by 17,000 tonnes. But an 11 per cent palm oil price slide kept profit from the plantation roughly flat at $25.2m, while profit from associate plantations slid roughly 50 per cent to $10.9m. Meanwhile, Australian beef cattle business, Woodlands, delivered a gross $2.19m loss after being hit by falling cattle prices and a stronger Australian dollar - that dampened export demand from Japan and Korea. Moreover, and despite a significant sales hike at 34.37 per cent-owned Australian cattle operation, NAPCo, a downward herd valuation and a property writedown meant NAPCo still made a loss - MP Evans' share of that loss amounted to $2.01m. Meanwhile, at the Malaysian property side, the group's share of Bertam Properties' post-tax loss amounted to $0.35m, compared to a $1.79m profit in 2011 - reflecting the slower completion of sales.
Peel Hunt has cut its 2013 pre-tax profit estimate by 12 per cent to $35.5m, giving adjusted EPS of 52.1¢ (from 46.5¢ in 2012).
| MP EVANS (MPE) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 498p | MARKET VALUE: | £273m | |
| TOUCH: | 498-510p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 560p | LOW: 450p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.6% | PE RATIO: | 23 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 639¢ | NET DEBT: | 0.6% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 30.4 | 23.4 | 48.9 | 7.0 |
| 2009 | 28.4 | 15.3 | 31.9 | 7.0 |
| 2010 | 42.1 | 19.4 | 41.2 | 7.5 |
| 2011 | 57.8 | 24.4 | 66.4 | 8.0 |
| 2012 | 83.2 | 16.7 | 32.5 | 8.0 |
| % change | +44 | -32 | -51 | - |
Ex-div: 24 Apr Payment: 20 Jun £1=$1.52 | ||||
