Neptune Orient Lines, the world's sixth-biggest container liner, posted a 6 percent rise in quarterly profit on Monday thanks to continued strong demand for shipping services from Asia to Europe and the US.
Singapore's largest shipping firm, which is controlled by state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings, said it made third-quarter net profit of $249 million in the three months to September 23, up from $234 million last year.
NOL made a net profit of $196 million in the second quarter.
NOL and rivals such as Maersk Sealand and Evergreen Marine Corp have benefited from surging freight rates on strong global demand for cheap textiles, toys and other goods from booming China, but investors have become more cautious amid talk the sector's economic cycle has peaked.
Container liners are facing choppier waters because capacity grows faster than demand. Rates for containerised freight between Asia and Europe have dropped 15 percent since last month and the cost of shipping a twenty-foot-equivalent box from China to the US west coast is 20 percent lower than a year ago.
NOL's shares, having more than doubled over the last two years, have lost 30 percent since hitting an all-time high in March.
According to the average of 12 analysts' forecasts compiled by Reuters Estimates, the company is heading for a 12 percent decline in full-year net profit to around $834 million.
The stock, only a third of which is in free float, is now back to its January level, underperforming a 25 percent rise in Denmark's AP Moeller Maersk but faring much better than Taiwan's Evergreen, whose stock fell 29 percent.
Trading at just 3.1 times forecast 2005 earnings, NOL is among the cheapest of its shipping peers. AP Moeller Maersk is valued at 9.3 and Evergreen at 4.4 times, Reuters data shows.
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