Palm oil sales push up Astra Agro's net profit

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed plantation company PT Astra Agro Lestari (AAL) announced on Wednesday a 171.4 percent increase in its net profit in the January to September period to Rp 153 billion (about US$17 million) from Rp 56.6 billion in the corresponding period last year.

The company said that the company, a plantation subsidiary of PT Astra International, recorded net sales of Rp 575.8 billion in the period, an increase of 74.8 percent from Rp 329.4 billion last year.

It said the increase in sales were mostly due to the surge in the sales of crude palm oil (CPO) which reached Rp 432.144 billion during the period following an increase in the company's CPO production.

The company said that its CPO output rose to 157,695 metric tons in the first nine months of this year from 96,485 tons in the same period of last year.

In light of this year's good performance, the company said it would pay a dividend of Rp 60 per share for the current financial year. (gis)