JOC Staff | Nov 08, 2012 11:49PM EST
State-owned Shipping Corporation of India earned $56 million in the three months through the end of September compared with a year-earlier loss of $26.6 million, the company said in an earnings statement on Thursday.
SCI’s second-quarter operating revenue increased 5 percent to $206 million from $196 million in the same period last year.
Officials said foreign exchange gains, coupled with much higher income from disposal of ships, helped reverse two consecutive quarters of losses.
Amid the current downturn in the global container shipping market, the national carrier’s quarterly operating loss from liner operations widened to $14 million from a loss of about $300,000 a year earlier. Revenue from the liner segment fell 25 percent to $50 million from $66.3 million in the year-ago quarter.
Quarterly revenue from bulk shipping operations rose 12.5 percent to $136.3 million from $121 million, but operating loss widened to $24 million from $8.3 million.
Operating expenses from July through September jumped 17 percent to $235 million from $201 million a year earlier.
The company rolled back into the black during April to September, the first fiscal half, with a $49 million net profit on $435 million in consolidated revenue, compared with a $28 million loss in the year-ago period against revenue of $382 million.
SCI, India’s largest shipping line, swung to a $78 million loss in fiscal 2011-12, which ended March 31, compared with a $103 million profit the previous year.
