PETALING JAYA: Westports Holdings Bhd recorded a net profit of RM139.90 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, a 13% increase from RM123.80 million in the previous corresponding period, supported by a higher container throughput and a controlled cost of sales.
Revenue jumped 8% to RM415.19 million from RM385.09 million a year ago on the back of container volume improvement of 12% to 2.53 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU).
Transhipment containers improved by 15% to 1.71 million TEUs and gateway volume increased by 7% to 0.82 million TEUs.
Westports group managing director Datuk Ruben Emir Gnanalingam said Westports enjoyed favourable volume recovery momentum after having transitioned to a new baseline and transhipment volume in the previous year.
He said Westports is expected to achieve higher overall container throughput in 2019 with growth coming from both the gateway and transhipment segments. The company is also finalising the planning details for the multi-billion proposed container terminal expansion and would be concluding the necessary detailed studies in the coming quarters.
“The proposed expansion would further strengthen the company and Port Klang’s role as the pre-eminent port for the nation’s gateway trade and also reinforcing the terminal as one of the main transhipment hubs in the South East Asia region for international container shipping alliances,” said Ruben in a statement.
