KARACHI: Pakistan National Ship­ping Corpo­ration (PNSC) profit-after-tax jumped 29.78 per cent to Rs1.364 billion during the first nine months (July-March) of 2015-16 from Rs1.051bn in the same period last year.

The earnings per share increased to Rs10.33 from Rs7.96 in the corresponding period of last year. The PNSC achieved better results despite the pressure and major financial crunch faced by global shipping industry.

However, substantial revenue growth of 49pc and 16.2pc were achieved in the area of foreigh chartering and PNSC’s own vessels, respectively, which helped in off-setting losses incurred in the dry bulk cargo haulage.

The direct operating expenses were reduced by 28pc to Rs6.7bn as against Rs9.298bn, thereby resulting in an improvement of gross profit to Rs2.917bn as against Rs2.126bn for the same period last year.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2016