CITING increased depreciation costs and marginal sales growth, India's Container Corporation (Concor) announced that profits for the 2010 fiscal year would likely remain unchanged from a year earlier.

Company officials told LiveMint-Wall Street Journal that sales growth, while steady at six to seven per cent, would likely be off-set by funds set aside for new railcar purchases next year. But growth next year is expected to be in the eight to nine per cent range, they said.

Concor managing director Anil Gupta said the state-run company enjoyed more than 20 per cent growth during the year, and that disappointing numbers resulted from low export volumes, which account for a large part of the Concor's operations.

Mr Gupta said there were clear signs of a global economic recovery, but profits would likely remain under pressure because of poor export performance as outbound trains were forced to run empty. Mr Gupta feared a rate hike would push customers to road haulage.

Apart from INR500 crore (US$11 million) railcar purchases, Concor also plans to build five logistics parks, two of which will be partly operational during the next fiscal cycle.

Source: shipping online