By Clarence Leong


Shares of Wilmar International Ltd. rose after the company posted a 55% rise in first-half profit.

The stock gained as much as 3.9% in early Friday trade in Singapore, and was recently 3.4% higher at S$4.27, heading toward its largest one-day increase since May.

The Singapore-based agribusiness company said late Thursday that it recorded US$1.16 billion net profit for the first six months of the year, up from US$750.9 million in the year-earlier period, supported by a 22% revenue growth.

It also proposed an interim dividend of 6 Singapore cents a share, the highest such payout since its listing. Wilmar went public in Singapore in June 2000.

Wilmar said its revenue expansion during the period was "in line with higher commodity prices" and further supported by stronger sales in its food-products, feed and industrial-products segments.

Chief Executive Kuok Khoon Hong also said that "recent corrections in commodity prices will hopefully restore some of the demand destroyed by high prices and improve margins in the downstream business," adding that he is optimistic about Wilmar's performance for the rest of the year.

The benchmark Straits Times Index was last 0.3% higher at 3280.91.


Write to Clarence Leong at clarence.leong@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

08-04-22 2247ET