Lorenzo Shipping Corporation (LSC) reported a wider net loss of P173.516 million in the first half of 2019 from the P40.639 million net loss recorded in in the same period last year.
The latest figure came after LSC recorded a net loss of P111.596 million in the second quarter of 2019 from a net income of P30.425 million year-on-year. The company also ended the second quarter with a negative gross profit of P63 million compared with the P17.28 million gross profit in the same period in 2018.
Revenues for the first six months of 2019 amounted to P1.451 billion, an increase of 61% from P901.028 million in the same period last year, LSC said in a regulatory disclosure.
The growth was a result of chartering four vessels of sister carrier NMC Container Lines, Inc., which increased LSC’s total operating vessels to nine (five owned and four chartered). This also resulted in a 52% year-on-year increase in cargoes handled by LSC during the period.
However, additional costs from chartering the vessels also inflated direct cost, which reached P1.514 billion from P901 million last year.
General and administrative expenses for the first half of 2019 increased 0.7% to P84.77 million from P84.176 million in the same period last year.
Net finance costs amounted to P45.3 million, 29% higher than last year’s P35 million due to higher interest rates.
Net “other income” was 75% lower at P19.829 million from P78.774 million, the difference consisting of proceeds from the sale of various assets and insurance recoveries.
LSC said it will continue its turnaround plans—noting the benefits reaped as shown in the significant improvement in direct costs—until the end of 2019. Reporting net losses since 2015, LSC has started to post lower losses from 2017 up to the first quarter of 2019.
The same plans, which are being implemented for years now, include enhancing partnership with select carriers for flexibility, especially in cases of excess volumes or service disruptions; and maximizing vessel capacity, especially for northbound volumes, using improved pricing schemes.
LSC owns and operates five vessels deployed to key ports in Manila, Visayas and Mindanao.
