Wilmar's quarterly profit drops, tough operating environment to persist

Oct 28 (Reuters) - Singapore-listed Wilmar International WLIL.SI reported a 25.2% fall in third-quarter core net profit on Wednesday, as weaker performance in its food, and feed & industrial products segments weighed, while it expects operating challenges to persist.

The company, one of the world's largest food producers, said core net profit was $267.3 million for the three months ended September 30, compared with $357.2 million a year earlier.

Sales volume in the feed and industrial products segment, the company's biggest profit generator, was 18.8 million tons, a tad lower than the year-ago period.

A sharp rise in commodity prices and global supply disruptions during the quarter weighed on the company's margins and led to an increase in feedstock costs, it said.

The company's top segment was also impacted by weaker soybean crushing margins, while higher raw material cost weighed on its food products segment.

Still, the company said it was "cautiously optimistic" that its performance for the rest of the year would be satisfactory, supported by its diversified operations.

The company paid a compensation expense of $712.3 million to the Indonesian government in the reporting period. Excluding that expense, its net profit stood at $281 million.