Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) on Friday reported record net profit of NT$80.13 billion (US$2.88 billion) for last quarter, up 880 percent from a year earlier, as high freight rates boosted its revenue and gross margin.
Earnings per share last quarter reached NT$15.15, it said.
In the July-to-September period, the shipper’s revenue grew 160 percent to NT$143 billion from a year earlier.
Photo: CNA
Its operational costs only rose 7 percent to NT$44 billion, while gross profit grew sixfold to NT$99 billion and gross margin surged to 69 percent, up from 24 percent a year earlier and 54 percent the previous quarter, company data showed.
Evergreen attributed its third-quarter revenue growth to record freight rates, backed by tight supply due to long-standing and unsolved congestion at seaports amid the COVID-19 pandemic, company president Eric Hsieh (謝惠全) told an investors’ conference in Taipei on Friday.
“The cost of shipping a container to the US or Europe has surpassed US$10,000, a rate hardly seen in the past,” Hsieh said.
The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI), which records spot prices for moving container freight from Shanghai to multiple destinations in the world, hit new highs in the third quarter and closed at 4,614 at the end of September, before falling last month, data compiled by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange showed.
Evergreen maintains an upbeat outlook for freight rates this quarter, as solving the issue of port congestion would be difficult, Hsieh said.
Next year, the dockworkers’ union on the US’ west coast is to negotiate with port employers for new contracts, Hsieh said, adding that as the union is expected to increase its demands given shippers’ recent profits, it might be more difficult for the two parties to reach an agreement, a scenario that would likely continue to hinder port operations there.
For the first three quarters of the year, Evergreen reported net profit of NT$158 billion, up 14.8 percent from a year earlier, with earnings per share of NT$30.27.
The company’s share price yesterday gained 8.77 percent to NT$124 in Taipei trading. The stock has surged 204.67 percent since the beginning of this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
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