COSCO Pacifics Profit Up 30 Pct Beating Forecasts

COSCO Hong Kong-listed port operator COSCO Pacific Limited recorded a 30.4 % profit increase in 2015 due to steady development and stable profit performance, the company said. Specifically, profit attributable to equity holders of COSCO Pacific for the year 2015 was USD 381.6 million against USD 292.7 million reported in 2014. Excluding the write back provisions from the sale of its 21.8 percent stake in China International Marine Containers (Group) Co. in 2013 of USD 79.1 million profit attributable to equity holders of COSCO Pacific amounted to USD 302.4 million, a 3.3% increase compared with last year. Bloomberg said that the results beat the USD 300 million average estimate of 12 analysts compiled by the news agency. However, in respect of the container leasing business, lease rates and resale prices decreased due to the adverse market environment during the year, affecting the profit performance of the groups arm.  As a result the business unit recorded a profit of USD 82.8 million down 13.5% decrease compared with last year. COSCO Pacific said that its profit from the terminals business for 2015 was USD 233.6, a 5.7% increase compared with last year. The throughput of container terminals was 68.6 million TEU, a 2.0% increase compared with 2014. During the year, the performance of Xiamen Ocean Gate Terminal improved, with an increase in container throughput of 28.4% compared with last year as a result of an increase in the number of shipping routes, enabling the terminal to return to profitability, recording a profit of USD 137,000.