TAL second quarter profit falls 661pc to US$4.7 million

NEW YORK's TAL International Group Inc, a lessor of containers and chassis has announced that its 'reported' net profit for the second quarter of 2010 was down 661 per cent year on year to US$4.7 million and after posting a $5.9 million profit in the first quarter of 2010.

Pre-tax profit, excluding gains on debt extinguishment and unrealised gains and losses on interest rate swaps, was $22.2 million in the second quarter of 2010, compared to $17.0 million in the second quarter of 2009, and $16.2 million in the first quarter of 2010, said a statement form the Purchase, NY company.

Leasing revenues for the second quarter of 2010 were $75.5 million compared to $79.4 million in the second quarter of 2009, and $72.9 million in the first quarter of 2010.

"Leasing demand was exceptionally strong during the quarter due to a combination of increasing trade volumes and constrained container capacity," said TAL president and CEO Brian Sondey.

"TAL has been able to capitalise on the 2010 surge in leasing demand to significantly improve the performance of our existing container fleet and accelerate our investment and growth," he said.

"The global shortage of containers has also resulted in a strong increase in the disposal prices we receive for our older containers and higher disposal gains for TAL. The increase in revenue, decrease in operating expenses and increase in disposal gains in the second quarter of 2010 combined to drive strong growth in our profitability, and our adjusted pretax income increased 37 per cent from the first quarter of the year," said Mr Sondey.

TAL has ordered $675 million in new containers year to date, including orders for over 230,000 TEU of dry containers and 21,000 TEU of reefers. Half of these had been delivered by the end of the second quarter.
(Source:www.schednet.com)