Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Q2 profit soars; stock up 8%

China-based Yangzijiang Shipbuilding posted a 73 percent jump in second-quarter profit, sending its shares up as much as 8 percent.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding
Yangzijiang Shipbuilding website

China-based Yangzijiang Shipbuilding posted a 73 percent jump in second-quarter profit, sending its shares up as much as 8 percent.

Net profit attributable to shareholders of the company rose to 719.9 million yuan for the three months ended June 30 compared to 415.4 million yuan in the corresponding period last year.

Net asset value per share increased to 6.08 yuan as at June 30, 2017 from 5.92 yuan as at December 31.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, which makes ships and a wide range of commercial vessels, said revenue for the quarter gained 27 percent to 3.8 billion yuan.

Revenue derived from shipbuilding business increased by 25 percent to 2.3 billion yuan due to the construction of vessels of larger size during the quarter.

Revenue generated by trading business and other shipbuilding related businesses also rose, supported by higher trading volume and higher charter rate.

The bulk-shipping industry is in the midst of a recovery and scrapping of older vessels are creating demand for new ones, underpinning Yangzijiang.

""Despite the current mismatch of the shipping supply and demand, the demand for shipbuilding remains intact in the long term," Executive Chairman Ren Yuanlin said in a statement.

In the first half, the company secured a total of 19 effective shipbuilding contracts with an aggregate value of US$450 million.

The Group had an outstanding order book of US$4 billion, comprising 85 vessels, as at 30 June 2017.

Shares in the company rose 4.7 percent at S$1.555 as at 0400 GMT on the Singapore Exchange. The stock has gained 91 percent so far this year.

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