PETALING JAYA: IOI Corp Bhd's net profit for the third quarter ended March 31, 2014 (Q3) rose 283% to RM2.18 billion from RM567.8 million a year ago due mainly to the one-off net extraordinary gain of RM1.83 billion arising from the de-merger of the property related businesses in January 2014.

"Excluding the effect from the de-merger and profit contribution from the property related businesses, the group's operating profit from its continuing operations for Q314 of RM524.5 million is 11% higher than RM473.5 million reported for Q313, due to better performance from the plantation business which is moderated by slightly lower contribution from the resource-based manufacturing segment," IOI said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday.

Its revenue increased marginally to RM2.9 billion compared with RM2.87 billion in the previous year's corresponding period.

For the nine-month period, IOI's net profit surged 74% to RM2.97 billion from RM1.70 billion due mainly to the one-off net extraordinary gain of RM1.83 billion arising from the de-merger moderated by translation loss of RM141.6 million on foreign currency denominated borrowings as compared with a translation gain of RM362.4 million for the same period last year.

Excluding the non-recurring items, the underlying profit of the group for nine months is 16% higher than the previous year, mainly due to higher contribution from the resource-based manufacturing segment, moderated by slightly lower contribution from the plantation segment.

However, its nine months revenue fell 1.9% to RM9.08 billion from RM9.26 billion a year ago.

"With higher biodiesel mandates in both Malaysia and Indonesia and the increase in demand from India and Pakistan due to the festive season, crude palm oil (CPO) prices are likely to be well supported at the current level in the remaining FY14 financial quarter. In the medium term, the likely occurrence of El Nino during the second half of the year may give a further boost to CPO prices," it said.