EVERGREEN MARINE NET PROFIT DOWN 2%

EVERGREEN MARINE NET PROFIT DOWN 2%

    Evergreen Marine Corp. (Taiwan) Ltd., the Taiwan-listed arm of the Evergreen group, reported a 2 percent fall in net after-tax profit for 1998, to NT$1.07 billion (US$33 million).
    The result compared with a net profit of NT$1.1 billion in 1997.
Pre-tax profit was NT$735 million (US$23 million) last year, down 29 percent on 1997. The net profit for 1998 was higher than the profit before tax thanks to a tax credit related to Peony Investment, an offshore subsidiary of Evergreen.
    Evergreen said that its net profit was only slightly down from the previous year, despite difficult trading conditions.
    Revenue dropped by 4 percent last year, to NT$27.1 billion (US$842 million), from NT$28.25 billion in 1997.
    Evergreen said that 1998 was a year when "freight rates spiralled downwards and cargo imbalances were problematical, primarily due to the so-called Asian crisis."
    Container volumes are now slowly improving and rate increases in the trades from Asia are "holding up well," a spokesman for Evergreen said.