Cosco Pacific Ltd.'s first-quarter ended 31 March 2016 net profit rose 31.4% from a year earlier on the back of a one-off gain. Turnover sank 2.27% yearly to US$129 million.
On yearly basis, its net profit shot up 105 per cent to US$702.7 million last year and the company is considering making more port acquisitions abroad at a time when the mainland's container throughput growth is slowing.
The jump in net profit was mainly due to net disposal gains of US$393.4 million from selling its stake in China International Marine Containers in June last year.
The first-quarter net profit rose to US$109.06 million from US$82.98 million a year earlier, lifted by a US$59.02 million gain after it completed the disposal of container box leasing operations in March.
Excluding the one-off gain, Cosco Pacific's profit fell 25.8% to US$42.97 million from US$57.94 million the previous year, as China's economic slowdown weighed on international trade.
The company's revenue for continuing operations fell 2.3% to US$128.7 million in the first quarter from US$131.7 million a year earlier. Total container throughput at its terminals business grew by 2.9% to 22.24 million standardized container boxes in the first quarter.
On yearly basis, the earnings are in line with market expectations, with profit from the company's container leasing section a bit disappointing as it dropped 10.2 per cent from 2012 to US$125.2 million because of soft demand and a decline in container pricing, analysts said.
Revenue from port operations, which accounted for 57 per cent of total sales, grew 13 per cent to US$455 million. Profit, however, slipped 1.2 per cent to US$186.8 million because of higher costs on tax and interest and a 27 per cent fall in net profit at its Hong Kong port operation.
Last year, mainland ports nationwide handled 6.7 per cent more containers at 189 million teu, compared with 8.1 per cent growth in 2012, a 12 per cent rise in 2011 and the 19.4 per cent increase in 2010.
The group’s total container throughput of its terminals business grew by 2.9% year-on-year to 22.2m teu as uncertain global economic outlook and negative growth in China’s foreign trade put downward pressure to the group’s container terminals business.
Cosco Pacific's terminal companies in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan handled a total of 19,1m teu almost flat from the previous year.
