Varun Shipping PAT up by 59.73 per cent

Mumbai, May 13 (UNI) Varun Shipping today reported a net profit of Rs 225.57 crore for 2007-08, up by 59.73 per cent from the previous year's earning of Rs 141.35 crore.

Announcing the results, Company Managing Director Yudishthir D Khatau said the total income of the company has went up by 26.49 per cent to Rs 850.80 crore from Rs 672.62 crore the previous year.

Improvement in freight and charter hire income was mainly due to the acquisition of additional vessels, particularly in the offshore sector, which contributed to 16 per cent of the total income.

During the year, the company had acquired the country's first very large gas carrier, Maharshi Bhardwaj, besides two large modern anchor handling towing and supply (AHTS) vessels, MV Sudaksha and MV Suvarna.

Varun Shipping was the first Indian company to operate large AHTS in the North sea.

He said the company had planned an investment of US dollars 400 million, during the current fiscal to augment its capacities, mainly for its offshore activities. Of this, it had already spent 100 million dollars in acquiring MV Suvarna.

The Company currently owns a well diversified fleet of 21 vessels comprising 12 LPG carriers, three double hull aframax crude tankers, one product tanker and five AHTS vessels. The Company's LPG fleet is the largest in India in terms of both fleet size and cargo carrying capacity, forming approximately 81 per cent of the aggregate cargo carrying capacity of LPG carriers operating under the Indian Flag.

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