Coal news and updates

Essar Ports Q1 net profit down 9%

July 24: Essar Ports Limited reported a 9.07% drop in its net profit for the April-June quarter (first quarter) of 2014-15 to Rs 92.20 crore against Rs 101.40 crore reported in the same quarter of the previous fiscal, the company said in a statement.

During the first quarter of 2014-15, the company’s revenues increased nearly 5% to Rs 431.60 crore compared to Rs 410.50 crore in the same period of the last financial year. The total cargo handling by the port during the quarter under review rose 6% to 13.75 million tons (mt) compared to a total cargo handling of 13.03 in the previous quarter (fourth quarter of 2013-14), the company statement said.

During the quarter, the company received environment clearance for expansion in Hazira for 4.8 km berth. The construction of 1,100 km expansion is expected to start after receiving the approval of the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) while the existing operation at Vizag iron ore terminal is expected to be taken over during the next quarter (July-September) of 2014-15, the company statement said.

Rajiv Agarwal, Managing Director, Essar Ports Limited, said, “Our expansion projects are on track with operations at the Vizag terminal expected to start next quarter. The traffic at our Paradip Dry Bulk Terminal is also slated to increase next quarter. We remain focused towards increasing our third-party cargo share and diversifying our customer base."

Following are the Q1 results of Essar Ports Limited in 2013-14 and 2012-13 (in Rs crore):