Gateway Distriparks profit falls 19% to Rs 69 cr in Jan-March 2023

Inter-modal logistics operator Gateway Distriparks Ltd (GDL) on Friday reported a 19.47 per cent decline in its profit after tax at Rs 68.62 crore in quarter ended March 2023.

The company had recorded a PAT (profit after tax) of Rs 85.21 crore in the same quarter of FY22, GDL said in a statement.

The total revenue during Q4FY23 was recorded at Rs 390.84 crore as compared to Rs 377.04 crore top-line clocked in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ended March 2022, it said.

The rail revenue grew 5.90 per cent to Rs 309.86 crore during the March quarter last fiscal as against Rs 292.61 crore in the same period of FY22.

CFS (container freight station) revenue, however, dropped 4.08 per cent to Rs 80.98 crore in the reporting period when compared to Rs 84.43 crore achieved in the March 2022 quarter, it said.

GDL also said that rail volumes during the quarter under review were up 3.46 per cent at 93,509 TEUs as against 90,385 TEUs in Q4 of financial year 2021-22, while CFS throughput slipped 6.85 per cent to 89,198 TEUs from 95,798 TEUS in Q4FY22.

The company, however, noted that it was operating CFS Punjab Conware in Nhava Sheva for 10 months in FY22 after which the O&M agreement expired.

Punjab Conware FY22 revenue was Rs 87.52 crore, it said and added that however, after payment of licence fees of Rs 16.44 crore to Punjab State Warehousing Corporation, it was a loss making facility for the company.

For a like-to-like comparison, excluding Punjab Conware CFS from the Company's throughput and financials, on a year-on-year basis, the total throughput grew by 6.91 per cent, total revenue grew by 10.5 per cent and total EBITDA grew by 1.2 per cent for the full financial year, GDL said.

"While there has been a slowdown in export volumes in the past six months, signs of recovery are now being seen from April onwards. Import volumes have been growing to a large extent. Our focus remains on improving efficiencies and expanding our network," said Prem Kishan Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director, Gateway Distriparks Ltd.

In the beginning of FY23, the company had allocated Rs 500 crore towards capital expenditure to be utilised by fiscal year 2025, with about Rs 200 crore already invested so far towards the acquisition of ICD Kashipur and land procurement and initial development of ICD Jaipur, he said.

"Our goal is to invest the remaining amount in new projects and we are actively exploring both greenfield and acquisition options in northern and central India to expand our network of ICDs in the next two years," Gupta added.