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PUBLICLY
listed Lorenzo Shipping Corp. posted a decline in its
nine-month net income ending September, mostly dragged
by the company’s weak financial performance during the
first half of the year.
In its
disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange November 15,
Lorenzo Shipping’s net income fell by close to 20
percent to P22.1 million ($502,273) from last year’s
P27.41 million ($622,955).
The
company’s income for the third quarter was actually
higher to P16.54 million than the previous year’s P13.91
million. Weak performance during the first half of the
year added more pressure on its bottomline.
Revenues
from freight decreased by more than 8 percent to P929
million ($21.114 million) from the previous year’s P1.01
billion ($23 million), mainly due to the lesser number
of trips.
Company
officials earlier said that most of their ships have to
undergo a regular dry docking during the first half, and
only two vessels were able to operate during the period.
As a
result, Lorenzo Shipping’s operating expenses from
voyage to terminal operations during the nine-month
period is lower by P49.8 million to P959.7 million due
to lesser fuel consumption.
Lorenzo
Shipping is majority-owned (52.6 percent) by the
National Marine Corp., a company owned by the Magsaysay
Group. It operates a fleet of seven vessels, with a
capacity between 200-TEUs and 400 TEUs and with speed of
11 knots to 15 knots, deployed to the key ports in
Visayas and Mindanao.
Its
network is comprised of branches in six cities (Cebu,
Davao, General Santos, Cotabato, Iloilo, Cagayan) and
agencies in three other cities (Zamboanga, Dumaguete and
Bacolod) across the archipelago.
The
company had bought a 350-TEUs second-hand vessel from
Black Tetra Shipping for $8.3 million in June.
The
vessel, which it named MV Lorcon Manila, started
operating this month.
As a
result of the vessel acquisition, Lorenzo Shipping said
it plans to sell old ship MV Lorcon Mindanao for about
$2 million by January next year.
Officials said that the vessel, which was almost 30
years old, has already reached its economic life. They
added the vessel was also proving to be a drag on
Lorenzo’s efficiency measures as it has a lower capacity
of about 250 standard containers and can only reach a
top speed of 12 knots.
Lorenzo
Shipping’s new vessel had earlier secured an incentive
from the Board of Investments, which includes income tax
holiday for the next six years starting from the arrival
of the new ship; importation of capital equipment, spare
parts, and accessories at zero duty; and exemption of
paying wharfage dues, any export tax or duty and fees
for the next 10 years. |
