Wilh. Wilhelmsen profit drops as costs rise

Wilh. Wilhelmsen profit drops as costs rise    The auto and roll-on/roll-off specialist carrier and logistics group Wilh. Wilhelmsen said Tuesday its first half operating profit rose 4.9 percent to $129 million, despite second quarter profit falling 9.7 percent to $71.4 million.
   First half revenue rose 16.6 percent to nearly $1.6 billion, while second quarter revenue rose 15.7 percent to $838.5 million.
   'The reduction in operating profit on a year-over-year basis was mainly due to reduced earnings in (Wilhelmsen Maritime Services), where solid increase in total income was not able to offset increased cost and a weak dollar,' the company said. 'Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA (the carrier and logistics business) experienced a healthy increase in operating profit, driven by continued increase in shipping volumes and solid improvement within logistics. On a quarter-on-quarter basis WWASA's shipping volumes continued its upward trend, but lower export from Japan and high bunker cost had a negative effect on the operating result.'