COSCO Pacific H1 net profit hits $153.15m

COSCO Pacific Ltd said its first half to June net profit rose to $153.15 million from $148.52 million a year earlier on the back of a double-digit growth in turnover.

The company said its net profit for the first half was up 11.1 percent from $137.89 million last year, excluding a year-earlier $10.63 million financial gain derived from put options given to A-share holders of associate China International Marine (Group) Co Ltd (CIMC), a company listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

When the financial gain is included last year's interim net profit, COSCO Pacific's net profit in the first half this year was up by 3.12 percent.

Turnover rose 10.2 percent to $162.07 million from $147.33 million as volume in all its business lines expanded during the first half.

Earnings per share were 6.82 cents, up from 6.64 cents a year earlier.

It said its total container terminal throughput in the first half recorded a 22.7 percent increase to 22.09 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit (TEUs), ranking it the fifth largest container terminal operator in the world.

It said the group's container leasing, management and sales businesses also grew.

Containers owned by the group or managed on behalf of other companies rose to 1.63 million TEUs from 1.39 million TEUs last year, making COSCO Pacific as the second largest container leasing company in the world.