NOL Losses Near $335M

Neptune Orient Lines Limited (NOL) has revised the full year outlook for its 2002 financial results. “Our statement at the interim results in September that, although still recording a loss, we expected the second half of 2002 to be better than the first half remains correct at the operating level. However, exceptional items will significantly affect the overall bottom- line,” NOL Chairman Cheng Wai Keung said. Cheng said that exceptional items could amount to about $110 million. He said this reflected an impact of $8 million from industrial disruption last year on the West Coast of the United States; $14 million additional write-down of goodwill; restructuring and severance costs of $37 million; provision of $33 million relating to losses from the sale of subsidiaries either realized or pending, including write-down of software; and $18 million for diminution of asset values, including vessels. The exceptional items have a cash impact of $50 million with $60 million being non-cash in nature. “Our preliminary estimate of the results for the full year 2002 while worse than expected, is unlikely to exceed $335 million,” he said. Cheng emphasized that NOL has a strong asset base and positive operating cash flow. Cheng said the full year results for 2002 will be announced around end February 2003.