Ruias-promoted Essar Ports today posted a consolidated net profit at Rs 40.84 crore for the July-September quarter of the current fiscal on higher realisation.
The company, demerged from erstwhile Essar Shipping Ports and Logistics (ESPLL) earlier this year, said it will invest Rs 2,800 crore over two-and-a-half years to fund expansion.
ESPLL's ports business had reported just Rs 5.3 crore net profit in same quarter of last fiscal, Essar Ports Managing Director Rajiv Agarwal told reporters on a conference call.
The bottomline of the firm improved 34% on higher average realisation, which stood at Rs 233 per tonne so far in the current year against Rs 174 a tonne in the last fiscal on higher tariff.
The company handled 15.2 million tonne cargo in the first half, including 9.73 million tonne in the reporting quarter compared to 9.63 million tonne in the year-ago quarter.
Agarwal said Essar Ports targets to handle 43 million tonne cargo in the entire 2012-13 fiscal.
The revenue of the company also rose 56% during the quarter to Rs 279.14 crore compared to Rs 178.96 crore in the same period last fiscal.
On capital expenditure, Agarwal said the company would fund the Rs 2,800 crore investment on ongoing expansions through a 3:1 debt-equity mix.
While, the equity part of the component would be financed through internal accruals, it would raise offshore debt to retire high cost rupee-denominated loan, which currently stands at over Rs 5,000 crore.
Agarwal, however, did not divulge the amount saying, "We are currently working on that".
Essar Ports expects to commission all its projects that are under construction and development by March, 2014. After the completion, the port capacity of the company would rise from 88 million tonnes to 158 million tonnes.
