New Century sees cruise business return to profit

The Hong Kong-listed company announced a first half profit of HKD27.77m ($3.58m) as against the loss of HKD20.86m in the same period of the previous financial year. The return to profit was due to the absence of fair value losses on cruise ships.

In first half revenue, the charter services of its two cruise ships, Leisure World and Amusement World, recorded income of HKD31.64m, falling from HKD33.56m posted in the previous corresponding period.

The slight decrease in revenue was due to the depreciation of Singapore dollar as the charter hires were received in Singapore dollar, New Century explained.

Earlier this month, the group completed the acquisition of Aegean Paradise, a 1990-built, 23,287gt cruise ship from Hainan Cruise priced at $22.89m, enlarging its fleet as part of an effort to further develop its chartering business.

‘Given a brighter outlook for the tourism industry in Southeast Asia, the group is confident that it will bring continuous contributions to its profit, thus maintaining and strengthening its long-standing competitive edge in this business segment,’  the company commented.

‘The group will continue to look for potential investment opportunity in the market. It will closely monitor the market trends and manage its diversified portfolio cautiously,’ it added.
 
New Century also has businesses in property investments and securities trading in Hong Kong and Singapore.