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Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Holdings Corp. recorded a net loss of P2.60 billion in the first nine months of 2020, a reversal from the P19.95 million net profit in the same period last year
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Revenues declined 35% to P3.33 billion from P5.15 billion, adversely impacted by continued community quarantine measures imposed nationwide
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Quarantine measures cut passenger travels and cargo movement
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CLC noted some mitigating measures taken have started to bear fruit, with operating expenses and finance expenses declining for second consecutive quarter
Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Holdings Corp. (CLC) recorded a net loss of P2.602 billion in the first nine months of 2020, a reversal from the P19.951 million net profit in the same period last year.
The results were adversely impacted by continued community quarantine measures imposed all over the country, CLC said.
Revenues for January to September 2020 declined by 35% to P3.325 billion from P5.154 billion in the same period in 2019.
CLC in a statement said passenger travels were at their lowest and cargo movement materially declined amidst the continued community quarantine measures in place over the whole country.
The group’s shipping business recorded a 37% year-on-year decline to P3.077 billion from P4.906 billion, mainly due to a 93% decline in passage revenues from P362 million in the third quarter of last year to just P25 million in the same quarter this year.
On a cumulative nine-month basis, CLC said its freight revenues were also down by 24% as the community quarantine measures slashed demand, resulting in lower voyage frequency.
The group also reported a P1.285 billion operating loss in the first nine months of the year versus a P961 million operating profit in the same period last year. This was due to a sequentially bigger operating loss in this year’s third quarter of P1.007 billion versus P318 million in the previous quarter.
CLC said its operations continued to be hampered by the limited operations across all its segments in the third quarter despite selective loosening of quarantine restrictions in certain parts of the country.
With the current business environment, CLC continues to work on stemming the losses and improving its financial health.
These measures include workforce rationalization, improved vessel utilization, enhanced revenue management, cost cutting, and suspension of uncommitted capital expenditure.
CLC noted some of these measures have started to bear fruit, with operating expenses and finance expenses continuing to decline for the second consecutive quarter.
Operating expenses have gone down to P237 million in the third quarter of 2020 from P317 million and P295 million reported in the first and second quarters of this year, respectively.
“Despite the disappointing results in the third quarter, we continue to prepare the group for a prospective recovery we see by the second half of 2021,” CLC president and chief executive officer Chryss Alfonsus Damuy said.
“These measures to improve Chelsea’s financial health are already starting to make an impact and these will allow the Group to be best prepared to capture that recovery,” Damuy added.
