Germany’s Ernst Russ Group saw profits rise after expanding its container shipping fleet.
Consolidated net profit after minority interests was €36.3m ($39.4m) in the first nine months of the year, up from €33.9m in the previous year.
Revenue increased by €11.3 million year-on-year to €149.3m over the period.
The Frankfurt and Hamburg-listed company said it had benefited from the expansion of the fleet over the course of the financial year.
Those vessels had benefited from the “continued positive business development and the largely secured employment situation of the shipping fleet”, the company said.
For the full year, the company expects to log revenues in a range between €190m and €210m and an operating result, or Ebit, between €70m and €90m ($97.5m).
The company is the majority owner of 31 ships, most of which are container ships in the 700-teu to 13,400-teu size classes.
In July, the company acquired the 13,371-teu Rome Express (built 2010) from the fleet of Denmark’s Navigare Capital Partners.
That helped lift the value of the company’s shipping assets by €69.4m to €265.3m.
Ernst Russ also owns a 38,000-dwt handysize bulker and a multipurpose vessel.
Earlier this year, the company sold an older 20-year-old vessel, the 2,450-teu Ella (built 2003), to MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company.
That followed the purchase this year of two more modern ships.
The 2,194-teu Frida Russ (built 2017) was purchased in May and the 1,025-teu Bakkafoss (built 2009) was purchased earlier this year by Ernst Russ in partnership with Eimskip of Iceland.
