Noble Sales, Profits Leap Upward

NEW YORK - Nov 8/04 - SNS -- Noble Group Limited reported a net profit of U.S. $81.691 million during the third quarter ending September 30, a solid improvement on the $12.561 million realized last year.

Gross cash receipts during the quarter totalled $2,062.8 million, a massive improvement on last year's third quarter sales results of $1,149.5 million.

The numbers lifted sales for the nine months ending September 30 to $6,374.5 million from $3,203.3 million last year. Net profit the first nine months of the company's fiscal year now stands at $208 million, compared to just $31.8 million last year.

The company said all business lines performed "well during the period and we now have put a difficult period in our soybean operations behind us. The rest of our grain operations generally performed well and, in particular, our coffee and cocoa businesses recorded very strong results. Our sugar business is now also beginning to come on-line in an encouraging fashion."

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