Essar Ports first-quarter profit soars 73 percent
Essar Ports Limited (EPL), part of the Essar Group, announced its audited results for the quarter ended 30th June 2012, Daily Shipping Times reports.
For the quarter ended June 30, 2012, Essar Ports' revenue increased by 18% to Rs 330.3 crore from Rs 278.5 crore in Q1FY12, EBITDA increased by 23% to Rs 271.3 crore from Rs 220.3 crore in Q1FY12, Net Profit increased by 73% to Rs. 68.5 crore from Rs 39.6 crore in Q1FY12.
Speaking on these results, Mr. Rajiv Agarwal, CEO & Managing Director, Essar Ports Limited said, “87% of our committed capital expenditure has been completed and we expect the projects to be completed in phases by 2014. In line with the commissioning of the expansion projects, our earning and profitability will continue to grow”.
The revenue from third party customers contributed around 4% to the total revenue of the company during the quarter. The company's debt has been reduced by Rs 165 crore during the quarter. For the quarter ended June 30, 2012, Essar Ports handled 12.65 million ton of cargo compared to 11.20 million ton in Q1FY12 registering an increase of 13%.
The Ports revenue increased on account of increased offtake from anchor customers and higher take or pay members.
Addressing the conference, Mr. Shailesh Sawa, CFO, Essar Ports highlighted more about the port expansion through presentation. He added, as per the Maritime Agenda, Indian Ports expected to reach 3000 MMTPA + capacity by 2020. Further, the growth in ports capacity has been lagging the required to reach the target.
Essar Port’s anchor customer at Hazira, Essar Steel completes expansion to 10 MMTPA capacity in Jan 2012. Hazira also won GreenTech Safety Silver Award 2012 for outstanding achievement in safety management.
Vadinar handled 9.07 million ton of cargo during Q1FY13 compared to 8.41 million ton in Q1FY12 registering an increase of 8%. Vadinar terminal handled 1000th ship at its product berths during Q1FY13 and terminal won the prestigious Gold Award for Occupational Health & Safety from The Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), UK.
Paradip Coal berth project recently received the final Forest Clearance from Ministry of Environment & Forest; construction is expected to commence shortly and completed in 24 months. Construction work for the iron ore terminal at Paradip is progressing well with 94% of project is already completed and terminal is expected to be commissioned in 2nd quarter of current financial year.
Progress of the construction work of the Salaya project is good with all the important equipments like ship unloaders, ship loader are delivered at the site. Berth is close to completion, stack yard is operational and conveyor construction is in progress.