Qtar Gas Transport Co (Nakilat), one of the world’s largest shippers of liquefied natural gas, posted a 13 per cent drop in fourth-quarter net profit.
The company made a fourth-quarter profit of QR176.5 million ($48.5 million), down from QR203.3 million a year earlier, according to Reuters calculations based on its financial statements.
QNB Financial Services had forecast Nakilat would make a quarterly profit of QR201 million.
Nakilat posted a 2013 net profit of QR729 million, compared with a profit of QR765.5 million in 2012, it said.
The company blamed the full-year profit drop on a QR25.7 million loss from a joint venture’s derivative instrument. It said the loss was for accounting purposes and “does not affect the economics of the derivative transactions nor the cash flows or liquidity of the company”. It made a derivatives gain of QR19.5 million in 2012.
Nakilat proposed an 11 per cent cash dividend.
Earlier, the company secured a $669 million facility with Qatar National Bank to finance vessel purchases by its joint venture with Greece’s Maran Ventures.
The loan will allow the venture, Maran Nakilat, to refinance other obligations and double its fleet to eight vessels, Nakilat said in a statement quoted by Qatar’s official news agency QNA. It did not disclose terms of the deal.
Also recently, Nakilat-Damen Shipyard delivered a new tug to Qatar shipping company Milaha. The 32-m-long tug Semesma, the 11th vessel built in Qatar, will be utilised by Milaha at the Port of Mesaieed.
The new tug is part of a 19-vessel order for Milaha which Nakilat Damen Shipyards Qatar (NDSQ) is completing at its facilities at Erhama Bin Jaber Al Jalahma Shipyard in Ras Laffan.
NDSQ has already delivered 10 of the vessels to Milaha, including three 28 m-long Azimuth Stern Drive tugs, each with a 55-tonne bollard pull; one service boat capable of speeds up to 20 knots; and six 10-tonne mooring/tug boats, all built in Qatar. The Semesma, which has a bollard pull of 80 tonnes, will be used for escorting vessels visiting the Mesaieed port. It is 32 m long with a beam of 13 m and has been equipped for offshore towing, firefighting and pollution control.
Meanwhile, Nakilat and its two shipyard joint ventures will take part in Dimdex, a maritime defence exhibition.
Nakilat, together with shipbuilder NDSQ and ship repairer Nakilat-Keppel Offshore & Marine (N-KOM) will be showcasing their naval and coastguard ship construction and repair capabilities at the event which will be held from March 25-27 at Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC). NDSQ is the event’s exclusive Diamond Sponsor.
A feature of the event is that two vessels will be moored at Doha Commercial Port. One will be an 11-m-long ultra-high-speed craft to cover the needs of navies, coastguards, police, customs and other security services and the other will be a 98-m-long frigate for the purpose of supporting military naval authorities and their counterparts.
Abdullah Fadhalah Al Sulaiti, managing director of Nakilat and chairman of NDSQ and N-KOM, said Nakilat, NDSQ and N-KOM are extremely proud to support Dimdex, saying it was an event of critical importance both for Qatar and for the entire Mena region.
“By showcasing the state-of-the-art capabilities of Qatar’s Erhama Bin Jaber Al Jalahma Shipyard at Dimdex, we are displaying our readiness to serve naval and other maritime security forces both from Qatar and from around the world, both in terms of ship construction and ship repair.” He said.
