Essar Ports Q2 profit at Rs 41 cr

Essar Ports’ net profit zoomed to Rs 40.84 crore from Rs 11 crore in the second quarter of this financial year due to higher realisation.

The company, demerged from the erstwhile Essar Shipping Ports and Logistics Ltd (ESPLL) earlier this year, said it would invest Rs 2,800 crore over two-and-a-half years to fund expansion.

Rajiv Agarwal, managing director, Essar Ports, said the company would fund its investment on ongoing expansions through a 3:1 debt-equity mix. While, the equity part of the component would be financed through internal accruals, it would raise offshore debt to retire high cost rupee-denominated loan, which currently stands at over Rs 5,000 crore.

The bottom line of the firm improved 34 per cent on higher average realisation, which stood at Rs 233 per tonne so far in the current year against Rs 174 a tonne in the last fiscal on higher tariff.

The company handled 15.2 million tonnes cargo in the first half, with 9.73 million tonnes in the July-September 2011 compared to 9.63 million tonnes in the corresponding period last year. The company has set a target to handle 43 million tonnes cargo in the entire 2012-13 fiscal.

“Essar Ports has also made considerable progress in all the port projects that are under construction and development which are expected to be commissioned by FY14. On completion, the port capacity will increase from 88 to 158 million metric tonnes per annum,” said Rajiv Agarwal.

The revenue of the company also rose 56 per cent during the quarter to Rs 279.14 crore compared to Rs 178.96 crore in the same period last fiscal.