Asian Plantations pursues sale as FY revenue rises

1st Jul 2014 13:05

Asian Plantations pledged to press ahead with selling itself as the palm oil producer increased revenues and forecast higher sales.Asian said it was in talks about a potential sale and said it hoped to report "a positive conclusion" in due course.The group, which listed on AIM in 2009, said: "Whilst a difficult decision, particularly as palm oil prices remain more than 30% below their 2011 and 2012 peaks, it is appropriate to explore a sale as we have completed several important milestones since our AIM admission."Asian has expanded its plantations and opened a processing plant since the flotation, as well as increasing revenue from nothing in 2009 to $23.7m last year. During 2013, revenue lifted 743% against the 2012 result.During 2014, it expects to sell more than 45,000 tonnes of palm oil against 26,584 tonnes in 2013.Shares rose 5p or 2.4% to 215p at 12:43 in London. PW