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NOL books 11% rise in H1 earnings to US$392m
Posted: 11 August 2005 2054 hrs
Time is GMT + 8 hours
By Anjana Menon, Channel NewsAsia
SINGAPORE : Neptune Orient Lines, Asia's number two container shipping operator, has booked an 11 percent increase in first-half earnings.
Profit for the six months to June came in at US$392 million, or S$646 million, in line with analysts expectations.
The profit rise came as NOL shipped more containers, added more liners to its fleet and raised rates for carrying goods.
Sales rose 16 percent to US$3.5 billion, or S$5.8 billion.
Still, with oil prices reaching record highs, NOL says it has to put more effort into improving profits and keeping costs down.
Said David Lim, NOL's group president and CEO, "More recently higher oil prices have also put pressure on margins. We are very focussed on mitigating these increases basically through our three pronged approach of maximising utilisation, managing costs tightly and very carefully selecting cargo to match our service attributes."
NOL says it will look out for acquisition opportunities in the industry, at the right price.
To grow its business, it is focusing on expanding in fast-growing markets such as India.
NOL is currently in talks with the Indian government.
Said Mr Lim, "We are in discussions to share our ideas and our thoughts. They will need to improve and expand their port infrastructure."
He added, "We are exploring opportunities in all of these areas to do inland container depots or to do cargo services on the land side. So I see potential of different sorts in different markets."
Looking ahead, NOL expects to turn in a strong performance for the full year.
It has declared an interim dividend of 8 Singapore cents, up 1 cent from the previous year. - CNA /ct.
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