Westports Holdings Bhd reported net profit climbed in the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 to nearly RM140mil, as stronger revenue was underpinned by double digit growth in container volume and higher container tariff.
KUALA LUMPUR: Westports Holdings Bhd
reported net profit climbed in the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 to nearly RM140mil, as stronger revenue was underpinned by double digit growth in container volume and higher container tariff.
It said on Friday net profit rose by 13% to RM139.90mil from RM123.80mil. Revenue increased by 7.8% to RM415.18mil from RM385.09mil a year ago on the back of container volume improvement of 12% to 2.53 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
Wesports said the higher revenue was mainly due to double digit growth in container volume and the implementation of container tariff hike with effect from March 1, 2019. This resulted in profit before tax rising by 13% to RM185.67mil from RM163.60mil. Earnings per share were 4.1 sen compared with 3.63 sen.
Westports handled 2.53 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) of containers in Q1 FY19, up 12% from a year ago.
“Transhipment containers improved by 15% to 1.71 million TEUs while gateway volume increased by 7% to 820,000 TEUs,” it said.
Group managing director of Westports, Datuk Ruben Emir Gnanalingam said: “Westports enjoyed favourable volume recovery momentum after having transitioned successfully to a new baseline and transhipment volume in the previous year.
“The continued growth at the Intra-Asia segment has further fuelled container volume recovery as Westports achieved an overall container volume growth of 12%, outpacing the industry’s average trend on container volume.”
He said Westports was expecting to achieve higher overall container throughput in 2019 with growth coming from both the gateway and transhipment segments.
“We are also finalising the planning details for the multi-billion proposed container terminal expansion and would be concluding the necessary detailed studies in the coming quarters,” he said.
Ruben said the proposed expansion would further strengthen the company and Port Klang’s role as the pre-eminent port for the nation’s gateway trade and also reinforcing the terminal as one of the main transhipment hubs in the South East Asia region for international container shipping alliances.
When compared with the preceding quarter ended Dec 31, 2018, its revenue fell by 1% from RM418.01mil. Profit before tax was down 4% to RM185.67mil from RM193.85mil. Net profit slipped 4% from RM145.54mil.
On the current year prospects, Westports said the container throughput was expected to register a single-digit percentage growth rate in 2019.
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