Essar Ports Q1 net up by 7% at Rs 99 crore

Private sector port operator Essar Ports Ltd today reported 7.4 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 99.05 crore for the quarter ended June 30.

The company's net profit in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal was Rs 92.15 crore, Essar Ports said in a regulatory filing.

Total income of the company during the quarter increased to Rs 411.73 crore as compared to Rs 407.43 crore in the year-ago period.

During the quarter under review, Essar Ports took over Vishakhapatnam iron ore outer harbour terminal. This has increased the operating capacity from 104 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 120 MTPA, it said.

The operating capacity is expected to increase to 140 MTPA by March 2016 and 194 MTPA by 2018. The total capital employed till date is approximately Rs 10,000 crore, it added.

Vishakhapatnam iron ore outer harbour terminal is an existing operating port which was earlier operated by Vishakhapatnam port trust. The takeover of operations at this port gives ready third party cargo to the company, it said.

"We expect the economy to grow at higher pace in the coming quarters. This along with availability of long term funds for infrastructure financing will give a boost to the sector," company's Managing Director Rajiv Agarwal said.

"We have continued to increase our port capacity by adding the terminal at Vishakhapatnam and are in line to increase our capacity to 194 MTPA by 2018," Agarwal added.

Essar Ports has four operational port terminals including the Vizag Iron Ore. Others are Hazira, Vadinar and Paradip.

Shares of the company closed at Rs 102.00 a piece on BSE, up 0.10 per cent.