DUBAI, April 27 (Reuters) – Qatar Navigation (Milaha) warned of a challenging 2015 as conditions in its offshore business remained weak and its investment business was exposed to instability in local equity markets.
The shipping firm made the forecast on Monday as it reported a 4 percent rise in first-quarter net profit.
“While we hope to maintain the momentum, we know that general market conditions for our offshore segment are weakening, and that our capital segment is heavily tied to uncertainties in the local equity market,” said chairman Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al-Thani. “It will be a challenging year.”
International companies with energy interests have scaled back the amount of cash for expansion in response to an oil price which has weakened since its peak in June last year, pushing them to trim costs and focus on short-term returns.
Milaha was also hit during the quarter by a 31 percent year on year decline in earnings from Milaha Capital, which suffered due to volatility on the Qatar stock market, according to a statement.
Like other Gulf markets, Qatar’s exchange has been buffeted this year by low oil prices, although a recent recovery has helped to lift stocks.
Still, Milaha made a net profit of 365 million riyals ($100.3 million) in the opening three months of 2015, up from 349 million riyals in the corresponding period of last year, according to a statement.
The result was marginally below the forecast from QNB Financial Services, which expected earnings in the quarter of 370.3 million riyals.
Milaha’s core units, Maritime & Logistics, Gas & Petrochem and Offshore, posted a combined increase in profitability of 71 percent year on year.
($1 = 3.6402 Qatar riyals) (Reporting by David French and Tom Arnold; Editing by Mark Potter)
COPENHAGEN, April 15 (Reuters) – Shipping company Maersk has not made any deployment changes after a Portuguese-flagged container ship was seized by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, the Danish company said on Monday. “We find recent...
WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) – The FBI has opened a federal criminal investigation into the deadly collapse of a Baltimore bridge last month when a ship crashed into one of its supports,...
By Daryna Krasnolutska (Bloomberg) Russia and Ukraine may have struggled to shift things significantly on the battlefield for more than 16 months, but a new phase of the war is moving...
April 14, 2024
Total Views: 2113
Why Join the gCaptain Club?
Access exclusive insights, engage in vibrant discussions, and gain perspectives from our CEO.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.