Gujarat Pipavav Port, also known as APM Terminals Pipavav, has posted a 25.58% fall in the net profit to Rs 44.2 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2017, hit by a drop in bulk and containerised cargo.
The company had reported a net profit Rs 59.4 crore in the year-ago period.
The total income during the quarter stood at Rs 151.7 crore as against Rs 172.2 crore in the corresponding period last year.
While ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) during the quarter was at Rs 82.8 crore, ebitda margin, or operating profitability as a percentage of total revenue, stood at 55%.
During the first half of this fiscal, the port handled 275,000 twenty-foot equivalents (TEU) of cargo, lower than 293,000 TEUs handled in the corresponding period of last fiscal. Dry bulk cargo also witnessed a decline. However, liquefied and roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) have been witnessing growth.
Without getting into the specifics of the decline in trade, Keld Pedersen, managing director, APM Terminals Pipavav, said in a press statement on the financial results, “This has been a challenging quarter. However, we continue to focus on growth.”
As per an analyst presentation, the year-on-year growth in overall cargo handled by the port during the September quarter has remained more or less flat.
The container cargo business during the quarter stood at 160,000 TEUs; bulk business was at 518,000 million tonnes (mt) and liquid business was at approximately 276,000 mt. Roll-on/roll-off business was around 19,000 units for the second quarter.
In another development, the Board of directors of APM Terminals Pipavav has approved an interim dividend of Rs 1.70 per share.
According to a recent report by Maersk Line, demonetization and goods and services tax were among the reasons for the decline in export-import, which has impacted cargo at the ports.
“Closing at 7% year-on-year growth, down from 11% last year, India’s global Exim climate in the first six months has been affected by slower exports as well as slower imports – 8% and 6%, respectively, compared with 11% in H1 2016,” read the report.
Steve Felder, managing director for Maersk Line (India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives), had said in the report, “Looking at the way the situation is turning now with the effects of demonetization and GST wearing off, I am confident that the second half of 2017 will deliver strong trade growth.”
Gujarat Pipavav Port is India’s first public-private-partnership port, wherein Danish firm Maersk has 43.01% stake. The concession period is 30 years.
