P&O NEDLLOYD’S 1ST-QUARTER PRE-TAX RESULT RISES TO $18 MILLION

P&O NEDLLOYD’S 1ST-QUARTER PRE-TAX RESULT RISES TO $18 MILLION    Anglo-Dutch mega-carrier P&O Nedlloyd Container Line reported a pre-tax profit of $18 million for the first quarter, compared to a loss of $29 million in the corresponding quarter last year, as its volumes and revenues continued to climb.
   The operating profit for the latest quarter was $31 million, as compared to an operating deficit of $14 million in the first quarter of 2000.
   Despite the traditional first-quarter low season, revenue rates remained similar to those in the fourth quarter of 2000, P&O Nedlloyd said. But there was “a significant improvement in revenue rates and volumes” compared with the first quarter of 2000.
   Average revenue per TEU in the latest quarter was $1,389, up by 5 percent on the $1,321 figure for the first quarter of 2000.
   Volume carried increased by 7 percent, to 727,400 TEUs, and total revenues rose by 13 percent, to $1 billion in the latest quarter, from $896 million in the first quarter of 2000. The increase in volume was partly due to the acquisition of U.S.-based Farrell Lines in July 2000.
   P&O Nedlloyd said that it benefited from lower fuel costs during the quarter, while new business processes and continuing cost reduction programs are proving effective.
   P&O Nedlloyd warned that “there continue to be uncertainties on some trades which make it difficult to be precise as to overall growth rates for 2001.” The company’s trade mix leaves it relatively less exposed to these trades, it said.
   The carrier also said that cost saving programs and the introduction of improvements in its processes have “put the company on a solid footing to withstand future uncertainties.”
   P&O Nedlloyd posted an annual pre-tax profit of $140 million in 2000, its first profit since the merger of P&O Containers and Nedlloyd Lines at the end of 1996.