Qatari Nakilat reports 4% increase in profit in Q1

Qatari state-owned shipping firm Nakilat on April 17 reported a 3.6% year/year increase in net profit in the January-March quarter (Q1) driven by higher revenues offset by higher finance charges.

The company’s net profit came in at 396mn riyals ($108.7mn in) in Q1 compared with 382mn riyals last year. Revenue increased by 5.3% yr/yr to 1.12bn riyals mainly due to better results from joint ventures and higher interest income, Nakilat said.

Interest, dividend and other income increased by 176.7% yr/yr due to higher interest rates on term deposits and dividends on investment securities.

Nakilat last year reported a record net profit of 1.44bn riyals, up 6.3% year/year owing to portfolio diversification and fleet expansion. The company has undertaken strategic expansion of its fleet with an additional four LNG carriers.

Nakilat has a fleet of 74 vessels including 69 LNG carriers, four LPG carriers and one FSRU.