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Neptune Orient Lines, owner of Asia’s second-largest container line, reported a better-than- estimated quarterly profit as rebounding world trade helped cause a 41%t jump in freight rates.
The company made a US$282.3 million ($368.5 million) profit in the three months ended Sept. 17, compared with a US$138.9 million loss a year earlier, it said in Singapore exchange statement today. That beat the US$157.3 million average of three analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales jumped 55 % to US$2.4 billion.
The company made a US$282.3 million ($368.5 million) profit in the three months ended Sept. 17, compared with a US$138.9 million loss a year earlier, it said in Singapore exchange statement today. That beat the US$157.3 million average of three analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales jumped 55 % to US$2.4 billion.
The Singapore-based shipping line’s container volume rose 12% from a year earlier as rising consumer confidence in the U.S. and Europe stokes demand for Asian-made goods. The company and larger rival Evergreen Group have both ordered vessels this year as lines rebound from industrywide losses sustained during the global recession.
“Strong demand and an improved rate environment have helped us turn around our performance,” Chief Executive Officer Ron Widdows said in the statement. “Our emphasis at this point is on operating efficiency and cost containment to ensure that we maintain our momentum.”
Neptune Orient’s APL unit carried 655,000 forty-foot equivalent units in the third quarter. Average revenue per box climbed to US$3,120 because of rising demand and peak-season surcharges. The unit’s sales rose 60% to US$2.2 billion.
Shipments at major U.S. container ports may jump 16% this year, according to the Washington-based National Retail Federation.
PROFIT FORECAST
Neptune Orient reiterated that it expects to make a full- year profit. It reported the first annual loss in seven years last year as the global recession and overcapacity in the global fleet hammered rates.
The shipping line, controlled by state-investment fund Temasek Holdings, closed unchanged at $2.06 in Singapore trading today. It has risen 25% this year, outperforming a 10% gain for the city-state’s benchmark Straits Times Index.
The company signed a US$1.2 billion contract for as many as 12 vessels with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. in July. Evergreen Group has ordered 20 ships from Samsung Heavy Industries Co. in the last three months.
