Concor profits slide on changes in depreciation rate

Container Corporation of India (Concor) has seen a dip in profits in the quarter-ended September due to changes in the Companies Act.

The Act calls for higher rates of depreciation by lowering the life period of assets, such as wagons, containers, handling equipment, said Anil Gupta, CMD, Concor, in an analyst call.

The company registered a net profit of ₹191.9 crore for the quarter ended September, against ₹242.7 crore in the same period last year, a 21 per cent drop. Income from operations stood at ₹1,354.8 crore against ₹ 1,254 crore last year, up 8 per cent. Had the company continued with the older depreciation rates, its net profit would have been higher, said Gupta.

International traffic “If we had not effected changes as suggested by the new Act, the net profit for this quarter would have been ₹278.24 crore,” said Gupta. A net profit of ₹278.28 crore would have meant 14 per cent growth against last year.

During the quarter, the company saw a 12.17 per cent jump in international traffic against last fiscal, a 1.27 per cent growth in domestic traffic on a year-on-year basis.

“The growth in domestic traffic slowed down because we had to divert rakes from domestic segment to the export segment. There was heavy inflow of imports. Last year, the imports were hit due to sharp rupee depreciation,” Gupta said.

The company’s stocks closed at ₹1,323.9 on BSE, down 3.45 per cent against the previous close.