Milaha to buy back 5% share, Q1 profit up at QR345 million

ASIF IQBAL

DOHA

MILAHA, the first public shareholding company registered in Qatar, has approved a share re-purchase programme of up to 5 percent of the outstanding shares of the company, a top company official has said.

“This programme will be implemented once the company has obtained all approvals and completed the necessary steps. It plans to fund this re-purchase programme by using its significant investment portfolio,” said Milaha Chairman and Managing Director Sheikh Ali bin Jassim al Thani. He was speaking to mediapersons, on Tuesday while disclosing the first-quarter results.

The company reported net profit of QR344.6 million in the first quarter compared to QR232.4 million in the same period last year. Operating revenues also increased to QR691.6 million, while operating profit reached QR282.8 million compared to QR232.4 million in the first quarter of 2012.

Milaha’s activities include marine transportation of gas, petroleum products, containers and bulk, offshore support services, port management and operations, logistics services, shipyard, trading agencies, real estate investments and asset management.

Talking about the firstquarter results, the chairman said Milaha’s ongoing internal transformation initiatives along with improved market conditions have resulted in a strong performance.

He said volume growth combined with increased efficiencies resulted in a continued upward trend for Milaha’s port services unit.

“Container shipping, logistics and bulk shipping results also improved significantly in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2012,” he said.

He also said that the deployment of one new vessel combined with higher utilisation of the fleet led to a strong improvement in Halul Offshore’s results .

“Milaha’s LNG vessel joint ventures and operating partnerships improved profitability, while lower charter rates led to a modest decline, however, the most encouraging aspect is that our core businesses in maritime transport and services have started the year well,” he said.

President and Chief Executive Officer Khalifa Ali al Hetmi in his remarks said, “The strategic and transformative journey that we began two years ago has started to reflect in the financial performance of the group.”

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