Among the 200 most traded stocks on SGX, there are 7 stocks whose businesses include plantations, with products used for food. These stocks include Wilmar International, Golden Agri-Resources, First Resources, Sri Trang Agro-Industry, Olam International, Bumitama Agri and Del Monte Pacific. These 7 stocks averaged 25% gains in the 2021 year-to-date.
With its FY20 results Wilmar noted its oil palm plantation and sugar milling segment will benefit from higher palm oil and sugar prices. Since the lows in early May 2020, Crude Palm Oil prices have rallied 82%, whilst raw sugar prices have similarly rallied 83% from end of April 2020 lows. Wilmar reported 19% y-o-y gain in FY20 Net Profit.
On Thursday (25-Feb), Golden Agri-Resources is scheduled to report, while Olam International is scheduled to report on Friday (26-Feb). The 2 strongest performing stocks of the seven over the past 12 months, Sri Trang Agro-Industry and Del Monte Pacific reported turnaround profits for the respective periods of FY20 (ended 31 Dec) and 1HFY21 (ended 31 Oct).
Commodity Price Rally Fuelled by US, Europe Stimulus & Asia Growth
Crude Palm Oil prices continue to trade end of 2020 levels, and follow a firmer start in early to mid-January, a retracement followed by close to two weeks of consolidation. Since the lows in early May 2020, Crude Palm Oil prices have rallied 82%, whilst raw sugar prices have similarly rallied 83% from end of April 2020 lows. Commodities across the board have been subject to structural repricing on a lower US Dollar fuelled by significant expansionary monetary stimulus measures by the Fed Reserve and ECB. At the same time global demand has been boosted with China and India estimated to generate the strongest GDP growth rates in 2021, after China was the only major economy to report growth in 2020.
Wilmar Signals Further Growth, while Paying Record Dividend
Wilmar International (SGX:F34) reported a 19% year-on-year improvement in FY20 (ended 31 Dec) net profit to US$1.5 billion with FY20 revenue at US$50.5 billion, beating consensus estimates for US$48.0 billion (click here for more). On the demand side, Wilmar noted strong volume growth was observed with consumer product sales volume up 22% for the year, medium pack and bulk was up 7%, whilst feed and industrial products was up 11%. This was attributed to increasing brand awareness and consumers’ confidence in the quality food staples which the Group produces.
Wilmar noted in its business outlook for FY21 that its oil palm plantation and sugar milling segment will benefit from higher palm oil and sugar prices. Recent years have seen Wilmar establish a comprehensive sales and distribution network reaching traditional retail outlets, supermarkets, convenience stores and hyper-marts, reaching about five billion consumers worldwide.
Wilmar added that it was continuing to build, especially in China, more integrated plants in new locations and develop new high growth and complementary businesses like central kitchen, soy sauce, vinegar and yeast. This firstly widens its range of food product offerings and secondly helps to reduce manufacturing, distribution and marketing costs. While signalling the intention to grow the business in FY21, Wilmar proposed a record dividend of S$0.13 per share (including interim of S$0.04 per share paid in August 2020) and a special dividend of S$0.065 per share for its FY20.
Wilmar The #5 Most Active Stock on SGX in 2021 Year-To-Date
For the past 7 weeks, Wilmar has led all of the STI stocks in it performance, with an 18% year-to-date gain, bringing its 12-month total return to 39%. The stock has been recipient to S$89 million in net institutional inflow over the 7 weeks, while being the Exchange’s fifth most traded stock overall. Wilmar, also noted that in FY20, the company had bought back about S$190 million of Wilmar shares, the second highest buyback consideration on the Singapore Exchange during the year.
As tabled below, the 7 stocks among the 200 most traded stocks that have a plantation focus have averaged 25% gains in the 2021 year-to-date, bringing their average 12 month total return to 58%.
The 3 strongest stocks of the seven over the 12 months were Sri Trang Agro-Industry, Del Monte Pacific and Wilmar International.
On 16 February, Sri Trang Agro-Industry (SGX:NC2) reported a turnaround profit for FY20, with net profit at 9.5 billion baht (click here for more).
Back on 10 December, Del Monte Pacific (SGX:D03) reported the Group’s 1HFY21 (ended 31 Oct) EBITDA quadrupled to US$136.8 million from US$29.4 million while net profit was US$18.6 million reversing a net loss of US$75.6 million (click here for more).
| SGX Listed Stocks With Plantation Focus |
SGX Code |
Market Cap S$m |
2021 YTD Average Daily Turnover S$M |
2021 YTD Turnover Ranking |
2021 YTD Net Institutional Flow S$M |
2021 YTD Price Change % |
2020 Total Return % |
12-Month Total Return % |
12-Month Volatility % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilmar International | F34 | 34,810 | 49.7 | 5 | 89 | 18 | 17 | 39 | 38 |
| Golden Agri-Resources | E5H | 2,399 | 3.5 | 62 | 2 | 19 | -30 | -9 | 37 |
| First Resources | EB5 | 2,541 | 3.5 | 63 | 0 | 26 | -31 | -4 | 43 |
| Sri Trang Agro-Industry | NC2 | 3,164 | 2.6 | 72 | 33 | 78 | 179 | 289 | 76 |
| Olam International | O32 | 5,049 | 1.9 | 87 | 1 | 3 | -11 | -7 | 32 |
| Bumitama Agri | P8Z | 928 | 0.6 | 131 | -3 | 5 | -35 | -19 | 43 |
| Del Monte Pacific | D03 | 476 | 0.4 | 159 | 0 | 25 | 69 | 116 | 71 |
| Total | 49,366 | 62 | 123 | ||||||
| Average | 25 | 23 | 58 | 48 |
Source: SGX, Refinitiv, Bloomberg (Data as of 22 February 2021)
Wilmar announced its debut in the Dow Jones Sustainability APAC Indices in mid-November last year, scoring above the 90th percentile for indicators related to raw material sourcing, human rights, labour practices, strategies for emerging markets, customer relationship management as well as risk and crisis management. Other STI companies that are a part of the Dow Jones Sustainability APAC Indices include CapitaLand, City Developments, DBS Group and ComfortDelGro.
