Namura Shipbuilding Gains on Higher Profit Forecast

Namura Shipbuilding Co., a Japanese builder of cargo vessels and tankers, gained the most in a month after increasing its annual profit forecast to reflect compensation it got from a customer that canceled a ship order. The stock rose 7.4 percent to 609 yen as of the close on the Osaka Securities Exchange, the biggest gain since May 19. It has risen 89 percent this year, compared with a 7.4 percent increase in Japan’s benchmark Topix Index.
Net income is forecast at 5.5 billion yen ($57 million) for the year ending March 31, 2010, up from a previous estimate of 4.4 billion yen, the Osaka-based company said in a statement yesterday after markets closed.
Hakodate Docks, a subsidiary in northern Japan, received 2.4 billion yen of compensation fees from a customer that canceled an order for five ships, Namura said in the statement. Namura will continue to construct the ships and seek new buyers for them.
“The demand for bulk carriers is still stable and we already have promising candidates,” spokesman Nobuyuki Iseki said today by telephone.