JAKARTA.PT Astra Agro Lestari Tbk (AALI) estimates that its net profit will improve in the second quarter (Q2) this year, after the average CPO price has increased since the beginning of this year.
Rudy Limardjo, Head of Investor Relations at AALI, predicts that the company's net profit growth will rise, but not too high in Q2 this year. The reason, said Limardjo, was because the inventory trend increased quite high, but demand from the market was still stagnant. For example, the total inventory of CPO in Indonesia in 2018 reached 43 million tonnes. "The demand does not change much, more or less flat," said Limardjo on Tuesday (30/4) when met by idnfinancials.com.
Limardjo cannot ascertain whether the net profit growth will last until the end of 2019. "We will reflect on the price in Q1, but after Q2, we have difficulty estimating the prices (CPO)," he explained.
In addition, AALI is optimistic that there will be an increase in demand for CPO and derivative products in Q2 this year, because it coincides with the Eid al-Fitr. "There is still growth in our production in Eid. Usually ahead of Eid, demand may increase," said Limardjo. (KR/AR)