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Which Wilmar segment is the stalest?

OCBC singled out Oilseeds & Grains as having a doubtful recovery among an already underperforming lot.

Oilseeds & Grains margins contracted 98% qoq over the last quarter, according to the Wilmar International's 4Q11 earnings result, and margins will stay depressed until pressures ease in the China front, which could take awhile.

Other segments are similarly getting crushed in their margins, with Palm & Lauric, Sugar Milling and Sugar Process all taking a hit.

Here's more from OCBC:

Muted 4Q11 results
Wilmar International Limited (WIL) reported a pretty muted set of 4Q11 results this morning. While revenue rose 26.7% YoY to US$11.5b, it fell 12.0% QoQ. Reported net profit jumped 56.9% YoY and 188.3% QoQ to US$500.0m; but excluding non-cash items, core earnings would have come in around US$265.0m. For FY11, revenue climbed 47.2% to US$44.7b, or 0.8% shy of our forecast; reported net profit rose 20.9% to US$1.6b; but core earnings would have come in around US$1.52b, or around 9% below our forecast. WIL declared a final dividend of S$0.031, bringing the total dividend to S$0.061, versus total of S$0.055 last year.

Margins hit QoQ for most segments
Most business segments performed poorly QoQ on the margin front, with the exception of its Consumer Pack segment, which rose 147% QoQ (down 22% YoY) to US$28.1/MT. Profitability for its Palm & Lauric business declined 31% QoQ to US$20.3/MT, while Oilseeds & Grains fared even worse, down 98% QoQ to US$0.3/MT. Even sugar saw its Milling margin drop by 47% to US39.5/MT and Processing even showed a loss of US$22.4/MT from US$35.9/MT in 3Q11.

Bottom likely seen but catalysts still lacking
Management believes that things should not get worse from here, but it retains a slightly cautious tone, especially towards its Oilseeds & Grains business which is still facing margin pressures in China due to the excess capacity there. Market appears to be anticipating a much stronger recovery, but not supported by the 4Q11 results and its outlook.

Downgrade to SELL with S$5.15 fair value
We have made minor tweaks to our FY12 forecast. In view of the more “risk-on” approach, we have also raised our valuation peg from 12x to 15x FY12F EPS, and this in turn raises our fair value to S$5.15. But given the stock has run way ahead of fundamentals, we downgrade our call to SELL. We would be buyers around S$5.

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