Shares in Orient Overseas (International) fell almost 4 per cent yesterday after the Tung family shipping and property group reported a 33 per cent drop in net profit to US$116.77 million in the first half of this year.
The figure, which included US$42.6 million in dividends from the Hui Xian real estate investment trust, compares with a net profit of US$174.97 million in the first six months of last year even as revenue climbed 7 per cent to US$3.12 billion.
The firm, parent of Orient Overseas Container Line, saw its share price drop 3.8 per cent to HK$42.15 in afternoon trade before recovering to HK$42.60, closing down 2.85 per cent on the day.
Analysts were surprised by the drop in the share price, pointing out that the result, which included a US$43.1 million profit from OOCL and OOCL Logistics, was 'good' given the current weakness in shipping.
Janet Lewis, shipping analyst at Macquarie Capital, said OOCL was likely to be the only global container shipping line that would be profitable in the first half, with the possible exception of Maersk Line. She was 'personally surprised' by the share drop, but added: 'There aren't a lot of buyers out there of shipping equities.'
Jon Windham, Asian marine analyst with Barclays Bank, called the profit a 'good result'. He said: 'Given the very weak profitability announced in the first quarter of 2012 by peers, we view the first-half profit as quite positive.' Peak profitability was expected in the third quarter.