 "South West Port (pictured) is JSW Infrastructure's first port operation. South West Port provides logistic support to the JSW Steel plant at Vijayanagar, Karnataka. Photo: Company site")
India's No.2 private port operator JSW Infrastructure reported a more-than-two-fold surge in third-quarter profit on Friday, boosted by a rise in cargo volumes and higher tariffs.
The company's consolidated net profit rose to Rs 251 crore (about $30 million) in the October-December quarter, from Rs 115 crore a year ago, sending the shares up by 4%.
Port operators like JSW Infrastructure benefitted from increased cargo movement in and out of the country in the quarter, amid buoyant commercial activity and festive-period demand.
Higher transit costs, passed onto customers as tariff hikes, also helped. Global freight rates recovered 7% sequentially in November after October's slump, according to brokerage Jefferies.
JSW Infrastructure's revenue from operations climbed 18% to Rs 940 crore in the December quarter.
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Cargo volumes handled by the company rose 17% to 28.10 million tons, helped by higher capacity utilisation at its iron ore and coal terminals at Paradip and Mangalore.
Addition of new ports and facilities boosted its cargo handling capacity to 170 million tons per annum (MTPA), more than half of its 2030 target of 300 MTPA.
Investments by the JSW Group company in ports and logistics may bring "healthy" returns, brokerage Kotak Securities had said earlier, as it seeks to take on larger rival Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone.
The Adani Group's ports arm posted a bigger third-quarter profit on Thursday.
