Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) logged $27.19 million in sales last year, up 31.43 per cent from 2018. Heng Chivoan
Cambodia's two key listed autonomous ports reported strong business performance last year before the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic which is currently ravaging the transport sector.
In its filing with the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX), Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) logged $27.19 million in sales last year, up 31.43 per cent from 2018. Its operating profit rose nearly 79 per cent to $15.8 million and net profit climbed 42.84 per cent to $11.55 million.
In its filing with the CSX, Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (PAS) recorded $83.48 million in revenue last year, up 21.17 per cent year-on-year, and $20.34 million in operating profit, up 27 per cent.
CSX vice-chairman Ha Jong-weon told The Post that the two autonomous ports showed remarkable profitability last year. “This results from an increase in quantity of cargo and container throughputs.”
Meanwhile, Covid-19 continues to spread around the world, hitting regional stock markets hard. CSX has reported a sharp drop in trading activity since February.
Ha said: “Stocks markets around the world are being affected by this pandemic. For Cambodia, the CSX index has dropped by about 16 per cent since mid-February. Although trading is not as active, there is nothing significant to mention.
“From my personal point of view, I think this effect is short-term and will recover in the near future. For instance, the major stock markets around the world like Nikkei 225, Dow Jones, S&P 500 Kospi Composite Index, Nasdaq Composite, have started to recover.
“I still think this is a good opportunity to buy stocks at a lower price,” he said.
He said the CSX index has remained quite stable during the past few weeks despite the new reported cases.
“Like I have mentioned, I think the effect is short term and does not have any implications in the long run. The market will start to recover to its intrinsic value when the situation loosens,” he said.
CSX data shows that three out of its five stocks fell at Tuesday’s close.
PPAP, PAS, and Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSP) dropped 100, 20 and 20 riel (2.5, 0.49 and 0.49 US cents) respectively to 10,700, 13,140 and 2,310 riel ($2.63, $3.23 and $0.57).
Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PWSA), on the other hand, rose 40 riel to 5,960 riel. Grand Twins International (GTI) remained unchanged.
The trading value was 19.63 million riel on Tuesday and the CSX index decreased by 0.08 per cent to 590.63 points at close.
