MISC’s fiscal year sales up, profit down

MISCÆs fiscal year sales up, profit down MISC Berhad, Malaysia's leading international shipping line, said its profit for the fiscal year ending March 31 was 2.4 billion Malaysia ringgits ($751 million), a 2.6 percent decline from the prior year.
   Revenue improved 25.7 percent to 13 billion Malaysia ringgits ($4 billion).
   MISC Berhad, which is a subsidiary of the state-owned petroleum company Petronas, said the result was “commendable despite the weakening of freight rate and cost escalation globally,” and noted average market bunker price increased 43.9 percent over the financial year. Profits were also hurt, the company said, by the weak U.S. dollar.
   Earnings from existing and new long-term charters in the LNG and offshore businesses will provide it with stable earnings, MISC Berhad said.
   “The global petroleum and container shipping markets are expected to weaken further with escalating operational costs especially bunker on the back of current high oil price, crewing cost and port charges” and could adversely impact the company’s short term performance, MISC said.
   The company’s Web site said it has a fleet of 112 ships including 27 LNG tankers, 49 petroleum tankers, 13 chemical tankers, and 19 containerships.
   The information service AXS Alphaliner gives a different estimate of its container fleet. Alphaliner said it has 15 owned and 15 chartered containerships with total capacity of 92,970 TEU, making it the 22nd-largest container carrier in the world.