Adsteam Shares Drop 15%

Shares in Adsteam Marine Ltd fell 15 percent on Thursday after it forecast growth in earnings in the year to end-June 2001, but said activity levels in some Australian ports were down in May and June. Consistent with the slowdown in the Australian economy, coal and grain traffic had eased and containerized trade was weaker, but U.S. earnings would boost the bottom line, Adsteam said. "Compared with last year, we now expect EBITDA to increase by approximately 40 percent and EBIT to increase by approximately 25 percent," Adsteam said. "We expect the full year's operational result to reflect the benefit of a full year's contribution from Northland in the U.S. and a small contribution from the recently acquired Howard Smith Towage business," it said. Adsteam posted an annual net profit of A$17.9 million for the year to June 30, 2000, up on the previous year's A$17.1 million, and recorded first half pre-abnormals net profit of A$9.4 million for the six months to end-December 2000. Adsteam said the integration of the Howard Smith unit, acquired for A$500 million in March, was underway with some synergy benefits already secured for the 2001/02 financial year. Adsteam has a 50-percent stake in U.S. maritime services unit Northland Holdings Ltd. - (Reuters)