Palm oil producer MP Evans has reported record revenues and profits for 2025, with a “strong start” to 2026 only increased by the Iran war’s boost to biodiesel prices.
Revenues at the London-listed, Indonesia-based producer grew 5% to reach $371m in the year to 31 December, with gross profit up 22%.
Increasing both harvests and yields, the company both increased its margins and cut carbon emissions by processing more of its own crop than ever before. Combined with a strong market, the company’s performance delivered record profits.
Operating profit rose to $138.8m, up from $115.7m, and the group has pushed its dividend payment up to 60p per share, a 7.5p increase.
“We feel great about the results. It’s been a superb year for MP Evans,” CEO Matthew Coulson told The Grocer.
The company has enjoyed a “really positive” pricing environment for several years, allowing it “fantastic levels of cash generation”. The company’s ability to take advantage of sustainability premiums – 76% of its crude palm oil output came from the RSPO-certified plantations it manages – has further helped its price performance.
Debt free, the company has reinvested some of that cash into future performance. In 2025, it bought 3,000 hectares of land near its Bumi Mas estate, and planted 1,600 hectares of new crop.
Indonesia’s biodiesel programme – recently widened to require 40% of fossil fuels to be made up of biodiesel – has proved a strong tailwind for MP Evans, which will only strengthen as fuel prices increase in the context of the Iran war.
“We’ve seen a strong start to 2026 even before what was happening in the Middle East, with strong two-month average pricing. But following the events in Iran, we’ve seen a moderate increase thanks to the correlation between palm oil price and oil price, because of biofuel use,” said CFO Luke Shaw.
“We’ll see what happens there. But even at the $860 [per tonne of crude palm oil], that’s a fantastic pricing environment for us,” he added.
The company itself is relatively sheltered from high energy costs, as it generates a significant portion of its energy needs in-house – including by burning methane generated in the processing of palm fruit.
And while the company is exposed to fertiliser cost increases – and “there are some challenges with fertiliser pricing and availability” – MP Evans had secured both the volume and price of its fertiliser supply for the second half of 2026 before the conflict in Iran started.
“Weighing up all those factors, we probably still have a net benefit [from higher oil prices],” Shaw added.
No comments yet