Friday, Great Eastern Shipping Company Ltd., provider of shipping and offshore services in India and worldwide, announced financial results for the fourth-quarter, reporting lower standalone net profit, hurt by largely on account of a smaller fleet, lower revenue days as well as substantial lower TCY rates on the dry bulk
The company, however, said the results for the fiscal year were marginally better than that of last year, despite lower revenue days.
Standalone Results
The Mumbai-based bank posted fourth-quarter standalone net profit of Rs.250.05 crore or Rs.16.39 per share, 16% lower than Rs.299.41 crore or Rs.19.55 per share reported for the same period last year.
The company said the results for the quarter included a one-time gain of Rs.138.57 crore, compared with a charge of Rs.40.96 crore arising from the effect of changes in the foreign exchange rates on revaluation of the outstanding foreign currency loans.
During the quarter, total standalone revenue fell 32% to Rs.534.25 crore from Rs.783.66 crore in the prior year quarter.
Revenue from Freight & Charter hire segment for the quarter declined 24% to Rs.560.75 crore from Rs.737.98 crore in the year-ago quarter. For the quarter, the company posted negative revenue of Rs.26.50 crore from sale of ships segment, compared with positive revenue of Rs.45.68 crores in the corresponding quarter a year-ago.
During the quarter, the total revenue days declined 18% to 3,465 from 4,223 in the corresponding quarter last year, while total owned tonnage fell to 2.85 mln.dwt from 3.07 mln.dwt in the year-ago quarter.
For the fiscal year, the company reported standalone net profit of Rs.1,384.82 crore, up 2% from Rs.1,356.81 crore in 2008.
For the first twelve months, the total standalone revenue rose 7% to Rs.3,083.47 crore from Rs.2,870.13 crore for the comparable period last year.
Consolidated Results
For the fiscal year, GE Shipping's consolidated net profit totaled Rs.1,417.83 crore, down 2% from Rs.1,453.35 crore in 2008.
For the fiscal year, the total consolidated revenue rose 19% to Rs.4,046.03 crore from Rs.3,397.81 in 2008.
The company said its board has recommended a third interim dividend of Rs.3.00 per equity share of Rs.10 each for the fiscal year 2009. The board has not recommended any final dividend for the fiscal year 2009, the company said.
Revenue visibility
Looking ahead, the company expects the revenue for the balance part of fiscal 2010 at around Rs.870 crore. The company said crude tankers and product carriers are covered to the extent of around 39% and 66% of their operating days respectively. In the case of dry bulk carriers, they are covered to the extent of around 42% of the fleet's operating days. Gas carriers are covered to the extent of 100% of their operating days for the balance part FY09.
At the BSE, GE Shipping closed Friday's trading at Rs.238.65, down by Rs.2.20 or 0.91% on a volume of 4.63 lakh shares. The stock hit an intraday high of Rs.251.00 and a low of Rs.225.25.
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