Essar Ports firms up after Q3 results

Essar Ports rose 2.84% to Rs 59.80 at 14:57 IST on BSE after consolidated net profit rose 4% to Rs 94 crore on 9% increase in revenues to Rs 398.80 crore in Q3 December 2013 over Q3 December 2012.

The result was announced during trading hours today, 23 January 2014.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 30.06 points, or 0.14%, to 21,367.73.

On BSE, so far 78,000 shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 20,655 shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 61.60 and a low of Rs 57.35 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 94.80 on 18 April 2013. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 54.35 on 20 December 2013.

The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 22 January 2014, rising 4.96% compared with the Sensex's 1.22% rise. The scrip had, however, underperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 3.96% as against Sensex's 2.27% rise.

The mid-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 427.89 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

Essar Ports' EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) rose 10% to Rs 324.20 crore in Q3 December 2013 over Q3 December 2012.

Speaking on the key highlights for the quarter, Mr. Rajiv Agarwal, Managing Director, Essar Ports said, "Our financial results highlight the consistent performance we have shown over the past few years. ln the coming quarters, we expect to handle higher cargoes driven by increased offtake from anchor customers and an increase in third-party cargo. Our focus is on completion of existing projects, which will double our volumes in the next 2 to 3 years."

Essar Ports is one of the largest port companies of lndia, with a current capacity of 104 million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA). The capacity is being expanded to 181 MMTPA over the next few years. Essar Ports has three operational port terminals at Hazira, Vadinar and Paradip. The Hazira port is an all-weather, deep-draft port with 30 MMTPA of dry bulk and break bulk cargo handling capacity. Vadinar is also an all-weather, deep-draft port with 58 MMTPA of liquid cargo handling capacity. Paradip dry bulk terminal was commissioned in December 2012 and is an all-weather, deep-draft port with 16 MMTPA of dry bulk cargo handling capacity. Essar Ports also plans to develop a coal terminal at Paradip of 14 MMTPA capacity. The company is also setting up a dry bulk terminal at Salaya with a capacity of 20 MMTPA. Additionally, the company plans to expand its Hazira port capacity by 20 MMTPA taking its capacity to 50 MMTPA. Essar Ports has won the bid for the development of three iron ore berths totaling 23 MMTPA at Visakhapatnam Port.

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