Mercator Lines (Singapore), the dry bulk shipper which focuses on India and China, has announced a net profit of US$10.02 million ($14.46 million) for the first quarter ended June 30, 2009 (1QFY2010). This represents a decline of about 57% compared to US$23.24 million for the corresponding period in FY09.

The group says revenue for 1Q10 declined 31% to US$35.5 million from US$51.7 million in 1Q09. The drop in revenue and net profit is largely due to the decline in spot market day rates and renewal of long-term contracts at rates lower than the previous rates. EBITDA excluding exceptional items for the quarter dropped 35% to US$20.3 million.

The Time Charter Equivalent (TCE) rate per vessel per day decreased to US$29,258 for Q1FY2010 down by 41% from US$ 49,894 in the previous corresponding period.

Total number of vessel operating days recorded a rise of 9.8% to 1,097 days in comparison to 999 days in 1Q09.

The bulk shipper says it continued to maintain a healthy balance sheet with cash and bank balances of US$12.6 million as on June 30 while growing its operating cash flows at US$22.1 million.

During this quarter, the group invested US$40.7 million towards purchase of a Geared Panamax vessel, Kalpana Prem, and funded its Very Large Ore Carrier (VLOC) through internal accrued cash.

The group says it has no further capital commitments at this point of time. Mercator’s debt equity ratio was 0.75 on June 30 compared to 0.79 on March 31.