15th Sep 2014 11:22
LONDON (Alliance News) - SKIL Ports and Logistics Ltd Monday said first-half pretax profit fell sharply, as it continued to develop a port and logistics facility at Karanja Creek in the Raigad District of Maharashtra, its maiden project.
SKIL Ports and Logistics said it made a GBP434,000 pretax profit in the six months ended June 30, compared with GBP1.9 million in the corresponding period last year. No revenue was recorded in either period. Administrative expenses widened to GBP974,000, from GBP519,000, while finance income fell to GBP1.4 million from GBP2.4 million.
Chairman Nikhil Gandhi said the level of activity on the ground has continued in line with management expectations.
"During the period and since the period end, work has continued to progress on two of the three key areas of the build out, including reclamation and dredging in the approach channel. The third key area of the build out consists of the laying of piles for jetty construction and will start to see significant progress following the monsoon, which is expected to conclude by the end of this month [September]," Gandhi said in a statement.
The chairman said work will continue over the next few months, with a particular focus on ground reclamation, casting of piles for the jetty and dredging within the harbour basin. Gandhi said he remains confident of delivering a "fully developed and operational" facility by the end of 2015.
"We constantly liaise with our contractors and engineers to identify delays and potential delays and thus far are satisfied that the build out of the facility would be operational by the close of 2015," Gandhi said.
The chairman also said the company is continuing to evaluate internal headcount to match its development.
The company had GBP45.5 million in cash at the end of June, a slight decrease from the GBP45.8 million it had six months earlier. Together with a GBP47.0 million credit facility, the company said it believes its has "sufficient" resources to complete the project and incur scheduled capital expenditure. It had incurred GBP21.15 million of capex by the end of June.
Skil shares were Monday quoted down 0.4% at 60.53 pence.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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