Posted on April 5, 2023
Shares of China Merchants Port Holdings Co. fell after the port operator reported lower net profit and throughput of bulk cargo in 2022.
China Merchants Port’s Hong-Kong listed shares were 5.5% lower at 11.38 Hong Kong dollars on Monday, underperforming a 0.2% decline in the city’s broader Hang Seng Index.
The company on Friday said its full-year net profit fell to HK$7.78 billion ($991.2 million) from HK$8.14 billion in 2021 despite higher revenue. Its bulk cargo throughput dropped 3.6% to 547 million tons in 2022.
The lower net profit was partially due to yuan depreciation, a lower fair value of financial assets and credit losses, the port operator said.
For 2023, the company said it expects the supply of containers to increase and the structural mismatch between supply and demand to ease. Container freight rates will likely return to prepandemic levels this year, China Merchants Port said.
