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Textainer approves dividend despite US$3.39 million quarterly loss

TEXTAINER Group Holdings has posted a US$3.39 million first quarter net loss, a 109.6 per cent year-on-year drop against the $35.3 million quarterly net profit made in the first three months of 2015.

This was drawn or revenues of $139.1 million, which declined 7.4 per cent in the same period.

Bermuda-headquartered, New York-listed company is one of the world's largest lessors of intermodal containers based on fleet size.

Lease rental income fell 5.6 per cent to $122.1 million for the quarter, a situation blamed on slower trade growth and falling steel prices.

"Growth in trade last year was estimated at less than one per cent, below estimated GDP growth of 3.1 per cent and steel prices declined 40 per cent," said Textainer president and CEO Philip Brewer.

"Low used container prices were a major reason for the decline in our income from operations. Notwithstanding low sales prices, we sell containers when our models indicate a sale is the right economic decision instead of maintaining them in our fleet and incurring storage costs," he said.

Textainer's board approved and declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.24 per share on Textainer's issued and outstanding common shares, payable on May 25 to shareholders of record as of May 16.

Said Mr Brewer: "We are starting to see some bright spots. Trade is projected to grow 1.5 - 2.5 per cent in 2016, an improvement over 2015.

Demand for containers, which was low through the Lunar New Year, increased over the last two months above the levels we saw last year with a noticeable jump in April," he said.

"The price of steel has increased and we understand new container prices have risen by $150 or more over the last few weeks.

"While it is too early to conclude whether this price trend will continue over the short term, we believe both new and used container prices will increase over the medium term," Mr Brewer said.