Noble Group Swings to Loss as Revenue Slumps

Singapore-listed commodities trader Noble Group Ltd. (N21.SG) on Thursday said it swung to a net loss in the third quarter as a steep fall in revenue hurt its operating income.

Net loss in the three months ended Sept. 30 was $28.1 million, compared with a profit of $24.7 million in the same quarter last year, the company said in a statement to the Singapore Exchange. Revenue fell 38% from a year ago to $11.55 billion.


Group net loss for the nine months to the end of September was $42.5 million, compared with a profit of $193.9 million a year earlier, the company said. Profit from its core business, after excluding the results of businesses that have either been or will soon be discontinued, was $70.1 million in the nine months, it said.

Noble Group has been divesting assets and cutting costs to bolster its balance sheet after the company was roiled by a share price collapse, a full-year loss and a downgrade to junk. Chairman Richard Elman reaffirmed plans to regain profitability in the next one or two years when the trader secured approval from shareholders last week to sell a U.S. energy unit, which largely caps a drive to raise $2 billion.