Increased air freight rates, biz recovery boost Expolanka 3Q

Elevated air freight rates and the gradual returning of regular trade volumes towards the end of 2020 lifted financial performance of Expolanka Holdings PLC during the three months to December 31, 2020 (3Q21), which helped the logistics behemoth to deliver stellar revenues and profits  for the period. 

The company, which became an early winner of the pandemic, reported revenues of Rs.57.9 billion for the quarter under review compared to Rs.27.8 billion in the same period in 2019, which translates into more than 100 percent growth in the 
top line.

The specialised third party logistics player with scale and expertise in the trade has also become a darling of stock investors, with the company’s significantly improved financial performance.

The Expolanka stock is up 74.14 percent or Rs.21.50 year-to-date to end at Rs.50.50 by last Friday, with a market capitalisation of Rs.98.7 billion.  By the close of trading at the end of the September quarter, the company’s share was trading at Rs.11.50 and by June 30, 2020 the share was trading at Rs.3.20. 

In the October-December quarter, the company reported earnings of Rs.2.33 a share or Rs.4.55 billion compared to 15 cents or Rs.302.3 million in the corresponding quarter in 2019. 

For the nine months ended December 31,2020 the company reported earnings of Rs.5.54 a share or Rs.10.8 billion compared to loss per share of 19 cents or Rs.374.9 million in the same period in 2019. 

“The above performance was driven by a multitude of factors, led by the gradual return of regular business, supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), improved yields and unified collaborative efforts across the entire organisation,” Exopolanka Group CEO Hanif Yusoof said.

“From a product perspective, the growth in business was predominantly on the air freight portfolio, with significant yield improvement during the quarter,” Yusoof further said. 

From a geographical market performance perspective, Far Eastern markets have performed exceptionally well while Indian subcontinent operations too have been robust. Meanwhile the key North American trade route remained the largest contributor to business while the European trade lane showed resilience. 

The Expolanka group has two other business segments—leisure and investments. While the leisure sector turned to cost optimisation measures aggressively to sustain the operations till the airports re-opened, the investments segment was helped by its sub-segment of export operations. However the two segments reported losses.  Japan based SG Holdings Global Pvt. Ltd. held 75.62 percent stake in Expolanka as at December 31, 2020.