Pine Agritech's Q4 profit grows 48% to 66m yuan

SOY bean-based product maker Pine Agritech has reported a 48.4 per cent jump in its fourth-quarter earnings to 66.2 million yuan (S$13.4 million). Revenue rose 29 per cent to 224.6 million yuan.

This brought its full-year net profit to 234.6 million yuan, a jump of 71 per cent from a year ago.

Cash generated from operations surged to 259.3 million yuan from 75.7 million yuan.

Revenue growth was driven by higher sales for products across the board.

Soy protein isolates (SPI), an ingredient sold to food processors to improve food texture and enhance nutritional value of their products, remained the largest revenue generator, at 60 per cent of group revenue.

Higher-margin soy oligosaccharide syrup (SOS), a health food which improves digestion, was the second largest revenue generator, contributing 19.2 per cent.

Group gross margin in improved to 34 per cent from 32 per cent in FY04.

Pine Agritech's chief executive Li Zhu Ping said SOS was the group's star product in 2005.

'With minimum order commitment secured from the recently expanded distributor base and existing two beverage makers, I believe SOS will remain one of the fastest-growing products in FY2006,' Mr Li said.

Pine Agritech has recommended a final dividend of 0.195 yuan per ordinary share.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, the management is optimistic about the group's performance this year.