Qatar Navigation (Milaha) has registered a QR778 million ($213 million) net profit for the nine-month period, up 22 per cent when compared to QR637 million last year.

The Qatar gas transporter said its operating profit too posted solid growth jumping 30 per cent in the first nine months to hit QR569 million compared to QR436 million last year.

However, the operating revenues witnessed a slight fall from QR1.7 billion to QR1.69 billion for the same period in 2012. The earnings per share hit QR6.81 vs. QR5.57 for the same period in 2012, it added.

Commenting on the results, Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al Thani, the chairman and managing director of Milaha, said: “I’m pleased that all our core segments including Maritime & Logistics,  Offshore, Gas & Petrochem - showed much stronger performance relative to last year. We have so far had a record year profit-wise and the results are due to a combination of both stronger market conditions as well as dedicated efforts internally to continuously improve on the way we conduct business.”

Sheikh Ali said four of Milaha’s segments showed significantly improved results, with double digit net profit growth.

Milaha’s Maritime & Logistics segment net profit improved 13 per cent during the first 9 months of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012, driven mainly by port services and container transport operations.

In addition, the gains from the sale of under-performing assets throughout 2013 helped drive bottom line growth.

Milaha’s Offshore segment net profit improved 18 per cent, driven largely by the addition of new vessels to the fleet.

Milaha Gas & Petrochem net profit grew by 17 per cent overall, driven by increased revenues from LNG joint ventures and despite continued weakness through the first half of the year in VLGC rates.

Milaha’s current activities include marine transportation in gas, petroleum products, containers and bulk; offshore support services; port management and operations; logistics services; shipyard; trading agencies; real estate investments; and asset management.-TradeArabia News Service