Container Corp Q3 Results: Profit Falls On Lower EXIM Sales

Container Corp. of India Ltd.'s consolidated net profit fell in the third quarter as the export-import segment saw a drop in revenue.

Net profit declined 3% sequentially to Rs 294.2 crore in the quarter ended December, according to an exchange filing. That compares to the consensus estimate of Rs 294 crore among analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

Container Corp. Q3 FY23 Highlights (QoQ)

• Revenue rose 1% to Rs 2,004.5 crore against an estimate of Rs 2,067 crore.

• Ebitda fell 15% to Rs 430.2 crore, compared to a forecast of Rs 465 crore.

• Ebitda margin stood at 21.5% against 25.5% in the preceding quarter, and estimates of 22.5%.

Year-on-year, the company’s revenue and net profit both grew 3%.

The sequential fall in profit was due to the nearly 4% fall in export-import revenues to Rs 1,270 crore, most likely due to slower international business amid a looming global recession.

The segment is considered a high-margin business compared with the domestic market, where the company's sales grew 10% over the quarter ended September.

The firm paid Rs 97.01 crore as land licence fee to the Indian Railways in the three months ending December. For the nine-month period from April to December, the land licence fees stood at Rs 288.5 crore.

The central government is keen to sell its 30.8% stake in the company.

In September, to aid the disinvestment of the company, the Union Cabinet approved the lowering of the Railway Land Licensing Fee to 1.5%, from 6% of the market value of the land. Lower land lease fees make the national container more lucrative for private players.

Shares of Container Corp. closed 0.5% lower before the results were announced, against a 0.5% rise in the NSE Nifty 50 Index.