(Yicai) Aug. 14 -- Shares in Yihai Kerry Arawana Holdings plunged to a new low today after the Chinese edible oil and grain supplier said that net profit in the first six months had halved from a year ago as lower food prices squeeze its margins.

Kerry Arawana’s share price [SHE:300999] closed down 10.1 percent at CNY37.04 (USD5). This is far below the high of CNY145.36 (USD20) reached since the firm went public in October 2020.

Kerry Arawana’s net profit sank 51.1 percent in the six months ended June 30 from a year earlier to CNY966 million (USD133.4 million), according to the Shanghai-based firm’s latest earnings report released on Aug. 11. And net profit in the second quarter plunged 99.4 percent year on year to CNY112 million (USD15.4 million).

The margins on many of its food and edible oils have been squeezed, it said. The price of soybeans has gone up but the price of its soybean oils has stayed low.

But revenue stayed flat with the previous year, dipping just 0.6 percent to CNY118.7 billion (USD16.3 billion) as sales of Kerry Arawana’s foodstuffs, raw materials and edible oils increased from a year earlier.

But Kerry Arawana should continue to expand and maintain its ‘buy’ investment rating as consumer demand recovers and as more restaurant chains upgrade and open central kitchens, China Fortune Securities said

The lock-up period on 4.8 billion of its shares, around 90 percent of the firm’s total share capital, will end in October, the firm said.

Editor: Kim Taylor