Neptune Orient Lines back in the black in Q2

CONTAINER shipping liner Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) managed to make its way back into the black in the second quarter, though most of its profit came from the sale of its logistics arm.

Net profit came in at US$889.5 million for the three months ended June 26, 2015, against a net loss of US$53.74 million the previous year.

Stripping out the US$887 million gain on the disposal of APL Logistics, however, net profit would have been around US$3 million, the group noted in a Singapore Exchange filing on Thursday.

Revenue for the quarter sank 24 per cent to US$1.55 billion year on year, according to an NOL press release. This figure includes APL Logistics' contributions in April and May 2015, before the sale of APL Logistics was completed on May 29 for US$1.238 billion in total.

From its continuing operations, the group made a loss per share of 0.42 US cent. The earnings per share from discontinued operations were 34.74 US cents.

Net asset value per share was US$1.02 as at June 26, up from US$0.67 as at Dec 26, 2014.

NOL shares were flat at S$0.92 on Thursday before the results were released.