Mercator Lines amplifies profit by 30% for first quarter of FY 2011

With 75% capacity for FY2011 and 60% capacity for FY2012 already contracted, the international bulk shipping company is all eyes on a long term and consistent growth.

Mercator Lines (Singapore) Limited, a leading Indian-owned international dry bulk shipping company on Monday announced an increase of 30% in net profits to US$ 13.1 million for the first quarter of financial year March 2011, according to a release from Mercator Singapore.

This was compared to the US$ 10 million profit in the same period of the previous year.

Mercator Lines said its revenues for the Q1 FY2011 increased by 10% to US$ 39 million from US$ 35.5 million in Q1 FY2010, aided by higher capacity and better spot market rates.

The Time Charter Equivalent (TCE) rate per vessel per day increased to US$ 30,001 for Q1 FY2011, which is up by 3% from US$ 29,258 Q1 of 2010. The total number of vessel operating days recorded a rise of 14% to 1,251 days in comparison to 1,097 days in Q1 FY2010, the announcement said.

Mr. Shalabh Mittal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Mercator, said, “We are happy to announce a strong set of Q1 FY2011 results with increase in revenues and profits. Our strategy of having a large portion of our capacity on long term business has shielded the Group from a volatile business environment and has helped us achieve consistent growth.”

The company had recently expanded and took delivery of a 3 year old modern gearless vessel ‘Gauri Prem’, which has been fixed on a 3 year time charter contract with a premier customer.

“While the dry bulk market has been weak in the last two months, the long term fundamentals of the dry bulk shipping industry are intact. Our contract cover and strong balance sheet with US$ 29 million cash, a low debt to equity ratio firmly positions us for further opportunistic growth,” added Mr Mittal.