ESL Shipping scored an operating profit of €9.4m ($10.9m) for the first nine months of 2017 compared with €8.5m in 2016.
The earnings before interest and tax (Ebit) profit rate in the last quarter was 18% — the same as the full year of 2016 — when it logged an operating profit of €12.6m on €71m in net sales.
Board chairman Aki Ojanen says the goal is push up the Ebit rate to between 20% and 24% in 2020.