2GO recovers from losses, hits H1 income of P501.9M

Shipping company 2GO said net income during the first half hit P501.92 million, from a net loss of P407.96 million during the same period in 2012.

According to a filing with the Philippine Stock Exchange, profit for the second quarter amounted to P445.19 million, a reversal from a P192.94-million loss in the same period last year.

The company, which derives the bulk of its revenues from freight and passenger shipping, said its topline grew almost 12 percent to P7.68 billion in the first semester.

Operating expenses also brought down costs 1.13 percent to P6.9 billion during this period.

The decline was attributed to stringent cost management control, 2GO said in its filing.

The results, which reflected earnings until the end of June, do not yet take into account the sinking of its passenger ferry off the coast of Cebu following a collision with a cargo ship.

The ferry was reportedly carrying more than 800 passengers, of which 75 have been confirmed dead with another 45 missing as of Thursday.

In its report, 2GO said its logistics had been “rapidly expanding” and now accounts for 42 percent of total revenues from 35 percent in 2012.

Its sea travel and passenger business gained 8 percent despite growing competition from budget carriers, which have been increasingly targeting shipping passengers to increase their market share.

“We will continue to undertake serious steps to further solidify our competitive position by rapidly expanding our logistics arm with the objective of increasing customer traffic and solidifying our leading position within the areas where we operate”, 2GO president and CEO Sulficio Tagud Jr. said in the filing.

Tagud is credited for steering away Negros Navigation from the brink of bankruptcy in 2004, the filing showed.

Speaking for the rest of the year, 2GO said cost management would remain a key initiative.