Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 6): Westports Holdings Bhd saw its net profit for the third financial quarter ended Sept 30, 2014 (3QFY14) jump 33.25% to RM140.88 million from RM105.73 million a year ago, underpinned by a growth of 11.3% from its container volume to 2.16 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units). 

This was despite revenue for 3QFY14 falling 11.85% to RM405.41 million from RM459.9 million in 3QFY13. Earnings per share (EPS) grew to 4.13 sen versus 3.36 sen a year ago.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Westports said it posted a new record high in its container volume by handling 739,000 TEUs in August this year, erasing its last record of 719,000 TEUs in May. 

"The gateway's container continues showing a positive trend with throughput exceeding 200,000 TEUs since March 2014, which reflects the underlying strength of the domestic economy," Westports said.

For the nine months period (9MFY14), Westports' net profit rose 22.45% to RM372.4 million from RM304.13 million a year ago. Revenue, however, fell 2.48% to RM1.18 billion from RM1.21 billion in 9MFY13.

Going forward, the group said it has received the last batch of three units of ship-to shore-crane and expects the Container Terminal 7 (CT7) will be fully operational by end of this month. 

"Once CT7 is fully operational by end of this month, the group's handling capacity is expected to increase from 9.5 million TEUs to 11 million TEUs per year," it added.

In a statement, Westports said the proposed Ocean Three Alliance (O3), which consists of CMA CGM, CSCL and UASC, is expected to commence its operations in January 2015.

"These three liners are currently using Westports as their hub, and will further reinforced Westports as their key shipping hub in this region post the O3 entry," it said.

The group will embark on the CT8 expansion plan to cater for its next phase of growth in view of the increasing container volume and high terminal utilisation rate. 

Westports said the expansion plan is expected to commence by early next year and will be carried out in two phases. 

Phase 1 will consist of 300-meter wharf and supporting port equipment and facilities which is expected to complete by 2016, while Phase 2 is expected to be completed by mid-2017.

Upon fully operational in mid-2017, the container handling capacity of Westports will increase from the present 11 million TEUs to 13.8 million TEUs. 

In a statement, Westports chief executive officer Ruben Emir Gnanalingam said the capacity expansion of CT8 is timely and well positioned to capitalise on the rising container throughput.

"We are optimistic this strong momentum will sustain moving forward especially with the recent formation of the O3," he added.

In a note to clients today, AmResearch has upgraded Westports to "buy" at RM2.93, with a higher fair value of RM3.40 from RM2.91.

"Unless there is a significant deterioration in the global and Asian economies, container throughput is likely to continue to grow at Westports," it said.

Westports shares closed 1.02% lower at RM2.90 today, giving it a market capitalisation of RM9.99 billion.
 

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