Shanghai International Port Group revenue falls 8.8pc in 2009

SHANGHAI International Port Group (SIPG), operator of the Port of Shanghai achieved an operating revenue of CNY16.6 billion (US$2.4 billion) in 2009, down 8.8 per cent year on year, Xinhua reported.

The group's net profit attributed to shareholders of the parent company fell 18.8 per cent to CNY3.8 billion.

China recorded a growth of 32.7 per cent in its foreign trade in December 2009. Export scored an increase of 17.7 per cent and import 55.9 per cent, both far exceeding the previous market expectation. Export growth is even predicted to surpass 20 per cent in 2010.

Operation situation since 2004 shows, every percentile of growth recorded in export will bring 0.75 per cent's increase in container throughput. Based on this, SIPG estimated that the container throughput of the domestic ports will be growing at a rate of 15 per cent in 2010.

As container sector has already contributed to two thirds of SIPG's core business profit, if including the container related businesses in other sectors, SIPG expects all its container-related businesses will account for three fourths of its core business profit.

SIPG's operating results in 2009 shows every per cent of growth in container throughput will generate an additional CNY0.002 in its earnings per share. If the group's container handling volume increases at a rate of 15 to 20 per cent in 2010 as it has expected, then the growth will add an extra of CNY0.03 to SIPG's earnings per share.

In addition to the container business, the group's bulk, logistics and port service businesses are also to enjoy the benefits brought by the recovery of domestic economy and lead to a rise in the profit.

(Source: www.schednet.com)