Nature Alert: Wilmar net profit up 60%

Friday 27 February 2009

Wilmar net profit up 60%

By Goh Eng Yeow The Straits Times, Singapore

PLANTATION giant Wilmar International on Friday reported a 59.7 per cent jump in its fourth quarter profit to US$373. million, even though revenues fell 10.4 per cent to US$5.83 billion.

A large 28.5 per cent drop in selling costs to US$229.3 million contributed to the sharp rise in profit. Operating costs also fell 54 per cent to US$41.5 million.

Wilmar, which owns oil palm plantations and runs milling, crushing, refining and processing plants in Indonesia and Malaysia, is cautiously optimistic about its near-term prospects.

Wilmar's Chief Executive Officer Kuok Khoon Hong said the company is keen on acquiring assets and has about US$1 billion available for mergers and acquisitions.

Wilmar had about US$2.5 billion in cash at the end of December and about US$1 billion could be used for buying plantations, ships or food companies, Kuok told Reuters on the sidelines of the firm's results briefing on Friday.

'Dry bulk ships are very cheap now,' he said.

The firm is declaring a final dividend of 4.5 cents, which brings its total payout for the year to 7.3 cents.

Wilmar rose as much as 3.7 per cent to S$2.82, and traded at S$2.77 at 10.17 am in Singapore on Friday.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_343766.html

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.