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Noble Group, the Singapore-based commodity supplier backed by China’s sovereign wealth fund, said third-quarter profit rose 19% as sales reached a quarterly record.
Net income rose to US$157.2 million ($201.9 million), or 2.53 cents a share, in the three months ended Sept. 30, from US$132.1 million, or 2.47 cents, a year earlier, the Hong Kong-based company said in a statement to the Singapore stock exchange.
Net income rose to US$157.2 million ($201.9 million), or 2.53 cents a share, in the three months ended Sept. 30, from US$132.1 million, or 2.47 cents, a year earlier, the Hong Kong-based company said in a statement to the Singapore stock exchange.
Sales for the quarter rose 79% to US$14.94 billion ($19.2 billion), lifting the nine-month revenue by 82% to a record $39.26 billion, it said. Noble, which received almost three quarters of its gross profit last year from energy and agriculture operations, is benefitting as crude oil, corn and soybean prices hover at two-year highs, while cotton is at a record.
“Higher revenue levels reflected the impact of a more stable economic environment which returned commodity price levels to more normalized levels,” the company said in a statement to the stock exchange.
Noble wants to grow its grain and oilseeds businesses to take advantage of rising global food demand, Chief Executive Officer Ricardo Leiman said Sept. 28. It aims to double annual profit to US$1 billion in three years as consumption of sugar, grains, coal and other resources increases in Asia.
MORE GRAINS
The agriculture businesses contributed US$3.53 billion in sales for the third quarter, 24% of total revenue and a quarterly record for the business, up from 22% in the same quarter last year, according to the statement. It was boosted by gains in the grains and sugar trade in South America.
Noble carried 6.9 million tons of products such as coffee, cocoa, soybeans, sugar and cotton, compared with 4.4 million tons a year earlier, it said.
The results came after the market closed. Noble shares were unchanged at US$2.13. The stock is up 1.3% this year, compared with a 14% advance in Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index.
Noble said Nov. 2 that Executive Chairman Tobias Brown stepped down after three months on the job. The resignation, by “mutual agreement” arose from “the practical realities of running Noble with both an executive chairman and CEO,” it said.
China Investment Corp., the nation’s US$300 billion sovereign wealth fund, bought an US$850 million stake in Noble last year.
