OREANDA-NEWS. August 9, 2011. Essar Ports Limited (EPL), part of the USD 17-billion Essar Group, today announced its results for the quarter ended 30th June 2011. This is the first time the company is announcing results after the demerger of the Shipping, Oilfields and Logistics businesses from Essar Shipping Ports & Logistics Ltd (ESPLL) and being relisted on the bourses on 31st May 2011.

Results:

Note: Considering this is the first time EPL is announcing its quarterly results post demerger, all comparisons provided below are with the Ports business segment of erstwhile ESPLL.

Essar Ports Limited registered a PAT (Profit after Tax) of Rs 39.61 crore for the quarter ended 30th June 2011 as against Rs 3.48 crore for the corresponding quarter last year—an over ten-fold increase.

Revenues of the company saw a jump of 61% to Rs 278.48 crore, as against Rs 172.97 crore for the corresponding quarter last year. 

The EBITDA for Q1 FY 2012 stood at Rs 220.28 crore, as against Rs 125.96 crore for the corresponding quarter last year, registering a growth of 75%.

Operational highlights:

Essar Ports commissioned a 12 MMTPA expansion at Vadinar in April 2011 as per plan at a cost of Rs 1,100 crore. The overall capacity of Essar Ports now stands at 88 MMTPA.

In the first quarter Essar Ports saw a jump of 14% in the total volumes handled to 11.2 MMT, from 9.83 MMT in the corresponding quarter last year. The average realization increased consistently from Rs 148/ tonne in FY10 to Rs 173/ tonne in FY11 to Rs 220/ tonne in Q1 FY12. The increase in average realization is in line with the escalation in tariff as per the long-term take or pay contracts along with the increased cargo handling requirements of its anchor customers based on their increasing capacities.

During the quarter, the terminal at Hazira received the ISO 9001:2008 (Quality Management), ISO 14001:2004 (Health & Safety), and the OHSAS 18001:2007 (Environment) certifications. It also achieved zero Loss Time Injury (LTI) performance in its very first year of operations.

Speaking on the results, Rajiv Agarwal, Managing Director, Essar Ports Limited, said: “We are on track to become one of the largest port companies of India. In line with India’s growing requirement for increased port capacities, we are well poised to play a major role in the growth story by doubling our capacity to 158 million tonnes.”

Benefit of Demerger:

Given the size and scale of the Ports business, further growth in the vertical required a more focused approach. As is evident from the results, the demerger is facilitating a focused approach towards growing the business.

EPL believes that the Ports business in India has huge potential to grow since the country doesn’t have many world-class ports. Additionally, utilization levels at major Indian ports are more than 90%, which is way higher than the international norm of 65%-70%.

Essar Ports has outlined aggressive plans to emerge as one of the largest port developers and operators in India. The company is developing port capacity for liquid and bulk cargoes at four locations in the west and east coasts of India with a total investment of Rs 9,300 crore.

Progress on Under Construction Port Projects

Paradip:

As part of the Paradip port project the company is building a capacity of 30 MMTPA, comprising an iron ore berth of 16 MMTPA and a coal berth of 14 MMTPA.

Paradip I (CQ3) commissioning expected in second half of FY12, 59% of the project completed by June 2011

Basic and detailed engineering completed

Ship loader erected; stack yard development under progress

Conveyor erection in progres

Salaya

The company is setting up a dry bulk terminal at Salaya with a capacity of 20 MMTPA.

Salaya port commissioning is expected in second half of FY13-14, 38% of project was completed by June 2011

Ship un-loaders delivered

1 stacker cum reclaimer erected; erection of 2 Stacker cum reclaimer in progress

Jetty construction and conveyor erection in progress

Environment and CRZ clearance received. Forest clearance pending for part of the project