Petra Foods suffers from 57.3% decline in net profit

Its cocoa ingredients business remains the key drag.

According to OCBC Investment Research, Petra Foods' 4Q12 results registered a net loss of US$16.7m that came in below its expectations following continued weaknesses in its Cocoa Ingredients business. FY12 net profit declined 57.3% YoY to US$25.8m from US$60.5m. 

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Doubledigit net profit growth (+10.4% YoY to US$14.7m) in the Branded Consumer division was offset by a sizeable loss of US$31.4m from the Cocoa Ingredients division during the same period.

This brought FY12 net profit to US$25.8m - a decline of 57.3% YoY from US$60.5m. However, excluding the soon-tobe-sold Cocoa Ingredients division, Petra would have registered a 38.8% increase in its FY12 bottom-line to US$54.5m on a 13.8% YoY improvement in revenue to US$477.7m.