APL turns 2Q profit, but 1H loss widens

   The liner carrier APL sustained first half operating losses of $239 million, a huge fall from the $61 million in losses in incurred in the first half of 2011, according to Singapore-based parent company NOL.
   APL’s first half revenue increased 1 percent year-on-year, to $4 billion, while container volume rose 4 percent, to 3 million TEUs. NOL said its average revenue per FEU was $2,513, down 2 percent.
   Sister company APL Logistics saw its first half operating profits sliced by 33 percent, to $22 million, despite an 11 percent increase in revenue, to $755 million.
   At the group level, NOL’s operating loss widened from $28 million in the first half of 2011 to $217 million in the first half of 2012, despite revenue rising 3 percent, to $4.7 billion. NOL’s first half net loss was $371 million, compared to $67 million in the corresponding period in 2011.
   The container line did perform better in the second quarter, submitting a profit of $7 million, compared to a $53 million loss in the same quarter of 2011. Second quarter revenue rose 7 percent, to $2 billion.
   The NOL Group earned $16 million in operating profits in the second quarter, compared to a $41 million loss in 2011. But its net loss was $118 million (107 wider than in the second quarter of 2011) due to one-off restructuring costs in the quarter.
   “The charges were for organizational restructuring and the sale of obsolete vessels to make room for more efficient ships and to reset vessel slot costs,” the company said. “Without the non-recurring charges, the second quarter net loss would have been $6 million.”
   APL’s profit in the second quarter was its first since the final quarter of 2010. The container line has undergone significant personnel changes in the last year. In recent years, APL has lagged in the bottom third of American Shipper’s profitability analysis of the top publicly traded lines.
   “The one-time charges were difficult but necessary,” said Group CEO Ng Yat Chung. “We need a more efficient organization and a more modern, cost-competitive fleet to deal with the oversupply situation in the container shipping industry.”