NOL Announces First Quarter Profit Up 183% To US$121 million

Logistics Insight Asia - Industry News, 29/5/2008

The NOL Group has reported a net profit for the first quarter of 2008 of US$121 million, a rise of 183% over the same period of 2007. Revenue rose year-on-year by 27% to US$2.41 billion.

First quarter revenue from our APL Container Shipping business rose by 33% from 1Q07 to more than US$2 billion. 1Q08 EBIT of US$108 million was 286% better than 1Q07. The EBIT Margin in 1Q08 of 5.3% was up from 1.8% in the same period last year.

Globally, APL carried a total of 662,900 FEU (forty-foot equivalent unit) in 1Q08, up 14% from the same period of last year. There was an 8% industry-wide contraction of US West Coast volumes in the first quarter, while APL recorded a 2% fall. Overall, APL’s Transpacific volumes grew by 16% in 1Q08. This growth was due to increased backhaul volumes and to US East Coast cargoes rising as a proportion of total Transpacific liftings. Moreover, Intra-Asia continued to drive volumes with growth of 12% in 1Q08.

Revenues in our Terminals business were down 6% to US$145 million compared to 1Q07. EBIT was US$12 million, compared with US$21 million in the same period of 2007.
1Q08 revenue from the Group’s Logistics activities rose 12% to US$363 million, while EBIT of US$17 million was up 42% from the same period last year.

APL Logistics’ EBIT margin of 4.7% already places it among the more profitable logistics service providers, and over time the Group aims to increase Logistics’ contribution to its bottom line.

NOL’s outlook statement said: “Going forward, the business environment is expected to remain challenging with cost pressures impacted by escalating fuel prices. Whilst there remains uncertainty on the economic outlook, support within the Asia region continues. The Group will continue to focus on optimizing asset utilization, yield and cost management.”

Visit NOL’s website for a full copy of the corporate presentation issued on 14 May 2008.

Neptune Orient Lines, www.nol.com