Sri Trang Agro-Industry swings to net loss of 786.8 million baht in Q2

[SINGAPORE] Sri Trang Agro-Industry swung to a net loss of 786.8 million baht (S$31.3 million) for the second quarter ended June, from earnings of 628.4 million baht in the year-ago period, as profitability was eroded by a bigger rise in cost of sales and net foreign exchange loss.

The Thailand-based, Singapore-listed rubber group posted a 19.4 per cent rise in revenue to 30.8 billion baht, supported by higher average selling prices and increased sales volume.

Revenue from natural rubber was 24.9 billion baht (up 2.4 per cent), accounting for 80.6 per cent of total revenue. The sales volume for rubber was up 20.7 per cent year on year to 397,461 tons – the seventh straight quarter of increase.

China remained Sri Trang Agro-Industry’s largest rubber market, contributing 66.4 per cent of the revenue, with Thailand at a distant second at 12.6 per cent.

Revenue from the glove segment was six billion baht (up 5.4 per cent), contributing 19.4 per cent of revenue.

However, overall cost of sales rose by 30 per cent – a bigger percentage than the the growth in revenue – to 29.5 billion baht, resulting in gross profit being more than halved.

Sri Trang Agro-Industry was also hit by negative foreign exchange movement and recorded 171.4 million baht in net foreign exchange loss, compared with 21.1 million baht in gain during the corresponding period in the previous year.

Hence, loss per share stood at 0.51 baht, against earnings per share of 0.41 baht for the year-ago period.

The group delivered a net loss of 98.1 million baht for the half-year, against a net profit of 298.7 million baht in the corresponding period in the 2024 financial year.

Revenue for the recent six months was up 31.8 per cent at 65.2 billion baht, while cost of sales surged 36.5 per cent to 60.7 billion baht.

Sri Trang Agro-Industry’s shares declined S$0.02 or 3.6 per cent to S$0.54 on Friday (Aug 8), before its financial statements were published.