COSCO Anticipates a Difficult and Challenging Year as Revenue Falls

SINGAPORE–Cosco Corp. Ltd. (F83.SG) said Wednesday its net profit in the fiscal second quarter fell 13% as revenue from its shipyard operations fell and flagged a cautious outlook for the year.

Cosco’s net profit was S$27.6 million in the April-to-June quarter, compared with S$31.9 million last year, the shipbuilder said in a statement to the Singapore Exchange, where it is listed.

Revenue fell 2% to S$975 million. Revenue from the company’s shipyards business, which makes up 98.5% of the total, fell 2.2% to S$960.8 million, Cosco said in the statement.

“With excess capacity in the shipping industry and the uncertain global economic conditions, shipowners may be reluctant to place new orders for vessels and the group may experience a decline in new orders in ship building,” the company said, adding that it expects business and operating conditions in the rest of the year to remain difficult and challenging.

– Gaurav Raghuvanshi, (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Co

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