Textainer quarterly profit off 11pc but sales up 13.5pc to US$120 million

TEXTAINER Group, the world's largest lessor of intermodal containers, posted a year-on-year second quarter profit decline of 11.4 per cent to US$45.9 million, drawn on revenues of $120 million, up 13.5 per cent.

The company said it owned 7.1 per cent more containers, which now total 2.6 million TEU. Expansion continued as the company invested more than $760 million in new and used containers, as well as purchases from its managed fleet through August 2012. Twenty-five per cent of the company's new container investments were in reefer boxes in response to expansion in that sector.

Utilisation remained high averaging 97.5 per cent during the second quarter and ending the quarter at 98.1 per cent.

"We saw double digit top line and bottom line growth during the second quarter and first half of 2012, as we benefited from our opportunistic investment in new containers late last year and early this year," said Textainer CEO Philip Brewer.

"We also benefited from an increase in utilisation of more than one percentage point since the start of the second quarter," he said." In spite of slowing economic growth, we remain focused on organic growth. We believe the increasingly owned percentage of our fleet, high percentage of long-term leases and high utilisation rates will provide sustained performance."