COSCO losses 9.56 billion yuan in 2012

On March 21st, 2013, COSCO International announced its 2012 annual results, and held its 2012 annual results press conference and analyst meeting.

Mr. Ye Weilong, Chairman of COSCO International, Mr. Zhang Liang, Vice Chairman of COSCO International, Mr. Xu Zhengjun, Managing Director of COSCO International, and other senior management of the company attended the meetings.

In 2012, the profit attributable to equity holders of the company declined slightly by 7% to 363,006,000 as compared with 2011. Basic earnings per share were HK$0.24. The board has recommended a final dividend of HK$0.06 per share.

Together with the interim dividend of 2 HK cents per share, total dividends of HK$0.08 per share represented a dividend payout ratio of 33%. As of December 31st, 2012, COSCO International held a strong financial position with net cash of HK$5.82 billion to support future development.

China Cosco Holdings reported an annual net loss of 9.56 billion yuan ($1.54 billion) in 2012, due to the downturn in the dry-bulk market, which has seriously depressed shipping rates.

Sales rose 4.6% from a year earlier to 72.06 billion yuan, and its net loss dropped 1 billion yuan from 10.5 billion yuan a year ago, the company said in a filing with the Shanghai stock exchange on Wednesday.

The company plans to sell Cosco Logistics Co. to its state-backed parent company China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co. for 6.74 billion yuan, it said in a statement. The sale will give China Cosco a pretax gain of about 1.96 billion in 2013, it added. < Korea Shipping Gazette >