Essar Shipping Q1 profit climbs to `39 crore

MUMBAI: Essar Shipping Ports & Logistics on Thursday said its first quarter net profit grew more than six times due to higher income from port and terminal services. The net profit for the April-June period stood at `39 crore compared with `6 crore a year ago. Revenue was up 18% to `795 crore in the same period. “The company’s higher profit earning was led by gains in the sea transportation and logistics services which contributed more than one-third of the revenue during the period,” said managing director Rajiv Agarwal. The Ruia family-owned company has recorded a 93% surge in income from ports and terminals at Rs 160 crore from `85 crore the previous year. Its EBITDA surged 16% to `338 crore for the quarter ended June 30.

Essar Shipping said it is targeting a revenue growth of 20%. “We expect additional earnings due to new capacity addition, mainly in the ports and terminals,” said Mr Agarwal.

During the quarter, the company commissioned a 30 million tonne deep draft all-weather port at Hazira and signed a 20-year contract with Essar Steel, another group company, at `200 per tonne with an assured cargo of 23 million tonne a year.

Essar Shipping also said issue of foreign currencyconvertible bonds with an average conversion price of Rs 91.70 was fully subscribed on Thursday.