Bruce Barnard, Special Correspondent | Nov 07, 2012 11:08AM EST
Leading European roll-on, roll-off carrier Finnlines boosted third quarter pre-tax profit by almost 33 percent from a year ago as a successful restructuring outweighed the impact of a soft Baltic Sea market.
The Helsinki-based carrier, which also operates in the North Sea, booked a pre-tax profit of 8.1 million euros ($10.4 million) in the three months through Sept. 30 against $7.8 million in the year-earlier period.
Revenue edged up just 0.1 percent to $206.5 million and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization grew 6.2 percent to $39.4 million.
Pre-tax profit in the first nine months of 2012 increased to $36.9 million from $29 million in the same period a year ago as revenue grew just 2.3 percent to $603 million from $ 589 million.
Finnish seaborne imports carried in containers, trucks and trailer units declined by 1 percent in the first three quarters while exports were up 2 percent. Truck and trailer traffic on routes between southern Sweden and Germany dipped 3 percent from the first nine months of 2011.
Finnlines carried 485,000 trucks and trailers in the period, unchanged from a year ago, but tonnage slipped to 1.6 million metric tons from 1.7 million tons.
The subsidiary of Italy’s Grimadli group said it is well placed to face a “volatile and challenging” market in the final quarter of the year.
Finnlines, which operates a fleet of 24 ships, took delivery of the fifth of six vessels on order in China at the end of October.
Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.
