Mercator

Earlier known as Mercator Lines, this company has diversified business interests in Coal, Oil & Gas, Commodity Transportation and Dredging. It is the second largest private sector shipping company in India based in Mumbai and recently forayed into the Offshore business with its subsidiaries Mercator Oil and Gas Ltd and Mercator Offshore Ltd.

The company had a dismal Q1FY16 on a consolidated basis. Thanks to its poor performance of the shipping and coal segment, lower sales and high interest outgo pushed the company into the red. The company ended the quarter with a consolidated net loss of Rs.35 crore v/s loss of Rs.12 crore in previous Q1. Net sales were down 5% (YoY) at Rs.718 crore. Costs had come down 4% led by 11% drop in bunker charges, 36% drop in vessel hire cost, 25% decline on coal operation costs. Yet this was not enough to make up for the massive interest outgo at Rs.60 crore, which is over 8% of revenue earned. Operating profit came in at Rs.127 crore, down 7% and margins remained steady at 18%. There was also a forex gain of Rs.8 crore. Yet, all this could not help the company end the quarter in the black.

In terms of segments, Shipping showed a loss of Rs.36 crore at the EBIT level and coal showed a 28% drop in EBIT. Only offshore did well, showing a 15% rise in EBIT