We Wouldn't Rely On Anglo-Eastern Plantations' (LON:AEP) Statutory Earnings As A Guide

As a general rule, we think profitable companies are less risky than companies that lose money. However, sometimes companies receive a one-off boost (or reduction) to their profit, and it's not always clear whether statutory profits are a good guide, going forward. In this article, we'll look at how useful this year's statutory profit is, when analysing Anglo-Eastern Plantations (LON:AEP).

We like the fact that Anglo-Eastern Plantations made a profit of US$28.0m on its revenue of US$244.4m, in the last year.

See our latest analysis for Anglo-Eastern Plantations

Of course, when it comes to statutory profit, the devil is often in the detail, and we can get a better sense for a company by diving deeper into the financial statements. This article will discuss how unusual items have impacted Anglo-Eastern Plantations' most recent profit results. Note: we always recommend investors check balance sheet strength. Click here to be taken to our balance sheet analysis of Anglo-Eastern Plantations.

The Impact Of Unusual Items On Profit

For anyone who wants to understand Anglo-Eastern Plantations' profit beyond the statutory numbers, it's important to note that during the last twelve months statutory profit gained from US$6.4m worth of unusual items. We can't deny that higher profits generally leave us optimistic, but we'd prefer it if the profit were to be sustainable. When we crunched the numbers on thousands of publicly listed companies, we found that a boost from unusual items in a given year is often not repeated the next year. And that's as you'd expect, given these boosts are described as 'unusual'. Assuming those unusual items don't show up again in the current year, we'd thus expect profit to be weaker next year (in the absence of business growth, that is).

Our Take On Anglo-Eastern Plantations' Profit Performance

We'd posit that Anglo-Eastern Plantations' statutory earnings aren't a clean read on ongoing productivity, due to the large unusual item. Because of this, we think that it may be that Anglo-Eastern Plantations' statutory profits are better than its underlying earnings power. On the bright side, the company showed enough improvement to book a profit this year, after losing money last year. The goal of this article has been to assess how well we can rely on the statutory earnings to reflect the company's potential, but there is plenty more to consider. In light of this, if you'd like to do more analysis on the company, it's vital to be informed of the risks involved. At Simply Wall St, we found 1 warning sign for Anglo-Eastern Plantations and we think they deserve your attention.

Today we've zoomed in on a single data point to better understand the nature of Anglo-Eastern Plantations' profit. But there is always more to discover if you are capable of focussing your mind on minutiae. Some people consider a high return on equity to be a good sign of a quality business. So you may wish to see this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks that insiders are buying.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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