Malaysia's IOI Corp posts Q1 net profit of $23.7 million

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil producer IOI Corp posted a first-quarter net profit of 104.8 million ringgit ($23.77 million) on Friday, aided by higher contribution from property and plantation businesses and lower foreign currency translation losses.

The company posted a net loss of 744.4 million ringgit in the year-ago period.

Revenue came in at 3.29 billion ringgit for the quarter ended September 2016, compared with 3.09 billion ringgit a year earlier.

"Despite the relatively low fresh fruit bunches yield, which was caused by droughts in 2015 and early 2016, the plantation segment is expected to perform satisfactorily, supported by the prevailing high crude palm oil and palm kernel prices," said IOI in a statement on Friday.

Palm oil industry watchdog - Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) - lifted a suspension on IOI's sustainability certificates in August. IOI was earlier accused of deforestation in its Indonesian concessions.

"Business performance has improved steadily since the lifting of the RSPO certification suspension in early August, and is supported by the strong sales in the U.S. due to the impending ban on trans fats," it said.

($1 = 4.4090 ringgit) (Reporting by Emily Chow; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)