MP Evans warns on full year results as palm oil price decline continues

Palm oil and beef cattle producer MP Evans Group warned its full-year results for 2015 will be lower than in 2014, because of a decline in palm oil prices.

In the six months to 30 June, the London-listed company posted a pre-tax profit of $5.5m, down 64.2% year-on-year, while revenue declined 17.4% to $39.2m.

Including a share of associated companies’ profit after tax, the group’s profit declined 19.4% year-on-year to $15.3m.

MP Evans on Tuesday announced the sale of its Australian cattle-fattening property in southern Queensland to Chinese automotive parts company Fucheng Group for AU$ 28m.

However, the group, which maintained its 2.25p interim dividend from the previous year, insisted the industry’s long-term prospects remained promising, despite poor palm oil prices.

MP Evans shares were down 2.78% to 350.25p at 1607 BST on Wednesday.