India’s JSW Infrastructure reported a 54% rise in fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday, boosted by volume growth in coal, one of its key cargoes.
Consolidated net profit for the company, which is India’s second-largest private port operator, rose to 5.09 billion rupees ($60.2 million) in the January-March period from 3.30 billion rupees last year.
Private port operators, such as JSW Infra and larger rival Adani Ports, have reaped the benefits of steady cargo movement across Indian borders until U.S. President Trump’s erratic tariff policy threatened to disrupt trade and pile additional risks on a slowing economy.
However, analysts at Jefferies said that JSW’s higher exposure to bulk cargo like iron ore and coal, which are more domestic-leaning, makes it relatively insulated from rising global trade risks than container-heavy Adani Ports.
Cargo volumes increased 5% on-year, and lifted revenue by 17% to 12.83 billion rupees.
“The volume increase was mainly due to robust performance at the coal terminals in Mangalore, Ennore, and Paradip…partially offset by reduced cargo volumes at the Iron Ore terminal in Paradip,” the company said in a statement.
The increase in cargo volume underperformed the growth of 9% in the same period a year ago. However, it was unchanged from the previous quarter and was also in line with the 5% estimated by brokerage Elara Securities.
The company’s shares ended 2.3% lower ahead of earnings. Adani Ports is scheduled to report results on Thursday.