CMB reports sharp increase in 1st-half tanker shipping profits

CMB reports sharp increase in 1st-half tanker shipping profits    Belgian bulk-shipping group CMB reported a sharp increase in its net profit for the first half of this year, to 90 million euros ($98 million) from 37 million euros last year, as tanker activities moved into the black and losses from dry bulk decreased.
   The improvement was despite the spin-off of Exmar, CMB’s former gas shipping arm, which produced a profit of 5 million euros in the first half of 2002 and did not contribute to the latest results.
   CMB’s tanker shipping arm, Euronav, made a profit of 43 million euros ($47 million) in the first half of this year, as compared to a loss of 3 million euros in the corresponding period of 2002.
   Bocimar, the company’s dry-bulk shipping arm, narrowed its loss to 10 million euros ($11 million) in the latest six-month period, from 18 million in the first half of last year.
   Following the spin-off of Exmar, CMB’s group revenues decreased to 226 million euros ($246 million) in the first half of this year, from 481 million euros in the same period of 2002.
   CMB said it has decided to shorten the depreciation period for its tankers from 25 to 20 years because of “the ever tightening rules and regulations.” The accounting change will lower its results by about $7 million a year, the company said.
   In a separate announcement, the newly independent company Exmar reported a net profit of $8 million for the first half of the year, up from $6 million in the first half of 2002. First-half revenues at Exmar totaled $165 million.