APL losses for 2002 ‘Worse then expected’

Accountants at NOL, parent company of Singapore-based APL, are getting closer to discovering the full extent of the shipping line’s losses last year. NOL Chairman Cheng Wei Keung admitted that preliminary results ‘were worse then expected’, but said losses were ‘unlikely to exceed US$335m (EUR318m)’. While figures for the second half of the year were expected to be better than the first, he added that exceptional items could affect the bottom line to the tune of $110m (EUR104m). He attributed this to strikes at US ports , restructuring and severance costs, losses from the sale of subsidiaries, goodwill costs and investment in IT. Full-year results are expected at the end of February.