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PUBLICLY-LISTED shipping company reported lower earnings
for the second- straight quarter since it lessened ship
voyages and focused on high-value cargoes.
In its
disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE),
Lorenzo Shipping Corp. said that profits only reached
P1.86 million from April to June this year, a decrease
of more than 75 percent from the previous year’s P7.48
million. During the first quarter, the company’s income
already plunged by 80 percent to P3.7 million from last
year’s P18.33 million.
For the
first six months of the year, Lorenzo Shipping’s income
from operations was only at P2.36 million, or a decrease
of more than 90 percent from the previous earnings of
P34.01 million.
Although
the company did not disclose the number of trips it cut
during the period, its freight revenues nevertheless
dropped to P581.66 million, down by 12 percent from the
previous P660.95 million.
“Net
revenue per TEU [twenty-foot equivalent units], however,
was higher due to more focus given to higher freighted
cargoes thereby maximizing revenue generation with the
limited vessel capacity,” the company said in its
disclosure.
During
the first six months of the year, P154.1 million were
spent on dry-docking costs and acquisition of property
and equipment, it said.
While
the shipping operator obtained P310 million in new
loans, it nonetheless paid maturing debts worth P179.6
million.
Controlled by the National Marine Corp., a company owned
by the Magsaysay Group, Lorenzo Shipping manages a fleet
of seven vessels, each with a carrying capacity of
anywhere from 200 to 400 twenty-foot metal containers,
deployed to the key ports in Visayas and Mindanao.
Its
network is comprised of branches in
Cebu, Davao, General Santos, Cotabato,
Iloilo,
Cagayan and agencies in Zamboanga, Dumaguete and
Bacolod.
Last
June, the company had bought a second-hand vessel from
Black Tetra Shipping for $8.3 million, which can carry
350 twenty-foot metal containers. The said vessel was
allowed to be exempted from the payment of taxes for the
next six years, among others. |
