OREANDA-NEWS. January 22, 2013. Highlights of Consolidated Results:

1. Highest ever cargo handled in a quarter for Essar Ports at 14.34 MMT, up from 9.94 MMT in Q3FY12, an increase of 44%. For Q1-Q3 FY13, cargo handled increased by 29% to 39.71 MMT as against 30.87 MMT in Q1-Q3 FY12.

2. Net Profit for Q3FY13 increased by 101% to Rs 90.4 crore from Rs 45.0 crore in Q3FY12. For Q1-Q3FY13, the Net Profit increased by 91% to Rs 239.5 crore from Rs 125.4 crore in Q1-Q3FY12

3. Earnings Per Share for Q1-Q3FY13 were at Rs 5.60 as against Rs 3.06 for Q1-Q3FY12

4. Revenue for Q3FY13 increased by 33% to Rs.367.0 crore from Rs 276.8 crore in Q3FY12. For Q1-Q3FY13, the Revenue increased by 25% to Rs 1044.8 crore from Rs 834.4 crore in Q1-Q3FY12

5. EBITDA for Q3FY13 increased by 34% to Rs 294.9 crore from Rs 219.4 crore in Q3FY12. For Q1-Q3FY13, the EBITDA increased by 27% to Rs 853.4 crore from Rs 670.4 crore in Q1-Q3FY12

Essar Ports Ltd. (Essar Ports), part of the Essar Group, today announced its unaudited results for the quarter ended December 2012.

Operational highlights:

The company commissioned the state of the art 16 MMTPA Dry Bulk Terminal at Paradip, with a fully mechanized ship loading system with a capacity of 5,000 tons per hour. It is one of the most modern terminals of its type in India, connected to the stockyard by a 9km long covered conveyor system having a capacity of 5,000 tons per hour. The fully mechanized stock yard has 2 Reclaimers with a capacity of 2500 tons per hour each.

During Q3 FY13, the company's terminals handled a record 180 ships, as against 114 ships handled for the corresponding quarter the previous year.

The company's commitment towards Health, Safety & Environment was highlighted with the company winning the following awards:

Award for Outstanding Environment Protection at the India Shipping Summit for innovation and best practice in minimizing marine pollution and the protection of marine environment for Vadinar Oil Terminal.

Port / Terminal of the year award in the field of Health Safety & Environment at the Gujarat Star Awards 2012 for Vadinar Oil Terminal.

Speaking on the key highlights for the quarter, Mr. Rajiv Agarwal, Managing Director, Essar Ports Ltd. said: "With the commissioning of the Paradip Dry Bulk Terminal, and significant progress in our ongoing projects, we have completed almost 80% of our committed capital expenditure plan. We have grown appreciably in revenues and cargo handling during the year, we hope this trend to continue in the coming few years as our planned projects keep getting commissioned and cargo keeps growing."

Essar Ports Ltd. is one of the largest port companies of India, with a current capacity of 104 MMTPA. The capacity is being expanded to 158 MMTPA over the next few years. Essar Ports has three operational 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 is currently developing one terminal at Paradip which will be a coal berth of 14 MMTPA. 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.