Gateway Distriparks fourth-quarter net jumps four-fold to Rs 46.60 crore

Integrated inter-modal logistics company Gateway Distriparks has reported an about four-fold increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 46.60 crore for the March quarter on the back of strong recovery in throughput and realisations.

The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 11.69 crore in Q4 FY20, according to a statement.

Total income rose 16.1 per cent to Rs 353.11 crore as against Rs 304.18 crore in the March quarter of fiscal 2019-20.

The company operates four container freight stations at Navi Mumbai, Chennai, and Krishnapatnam. Two container freight stations are being operated at Kochi and Visakhapatnam through its subsidiaries, Gateway Distriparks (Kerala) Ltd and Gateway East India Pvt Ltd, respectively.

"The growth momentum we had gathered in Q3 has continued in Q4 as well. H1FY21 was impacted by Covid-19-linked disruptions, however as the year went on, we could see volumes bounce back month over month and reach a new all time high.

"The revival in the EXIM trade has been much faster than anticipated," the company's Chairman and Managing Director Prem Kishan Dass Gupta said.

The firm witnessed a sharp recovery in overall volumes for both Container Freight Station (CFS) and rail container business in the third quarter of the previous fiscal. The CFS business recorded peak throughput of 33,793 TEUs in March for the year, whereas the rail container business recorded highest-ever monthly throughput of 26,426 TEUs in March, thereby surpassing previous all-time high throughput of 25,676 TEUs recorded in December 2020, he said.

The trials on the next section of Madar to Palanpur, on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, which will connect Mundra and Pipavav have already started and is expected to be commissioned soon, Gupta added.