* Asciano , Qube both report H1 lower revenue on commodities
rout
* Qube says still in talks with Brookfield in joint Asciano
bid
(Releads to include Qube results, adds shares, comments)
By Byron Kaye
SYDNEY, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Australian freight giant Asciano
AIO.AX and the smaller rival trying to buy it for A$9 billion
($6.5 billion) both posted lower first half sales on Wednesday,
strengthening the case for consolidation in a sector hammered by
a commodities rout.
A day after revealing that its two long-standing suitors
were now weighing a joint tilt, Asciano reported a 4.3 percent
drop in revenue for the period, while net profit rose 5.3
percent due to cost cutting.
Suitor and cargo handler Qube Holdings Ltd QUB.AX also
said sales fell 3.7 percent for the six months to Dec. 31 while
profit eased just 1.7 percent, also as a result of reduced
overheads.
Qube was vying with Canadian infrastructure fund Brookfield
Asset Management BAMa.TO to buy Asciano, which revealed on
Tuesday that the two companies were now weighing a joint bid to
end the fiercest takeover battle currently being waged in the
Asia Pacific.
The results of both Qube and Asciano underscore the downturn
in global commodities demand which has hit Australia's
resource-reliant economy, and how companies must now rely on
consolidation and cost-cutting to survive.
The iron ore industry has particularly suffered as main
customer China cut back on purchases, resulting in shuttered
mines and constrained haulage volumes for logistics companies.
"In the absence of new revenue, cost management is going to
remain a focus," Asciano Chief Executive Officer John Mullen
told a post-results briefing.
He said the decline in port volumes in Western Australia was
the "biggest its been for some time", but added that coal
haulage volumes rose 11.8 percent in Queensland state, a bright
spot in an otherwise flat rail division.
Asciano shares held steady, while the broader market .AXJO
fell 1.5 percent, as investors bet on more benefits from cost
savings and a growing sense of hope that a takeover battle
between Qube and Brookfield is nearing an end.
Qube shares rose 1.4 percent. The company gave few details
about a proposed joint bid with Brookfield for Asciano,
disclosed a day earlier, but confirmed that the companies would
own Asciano's ports in a fifty-fifty joint venture, while a host
of global backers including China Investment Corp CIC.UL would
get the railways.
"All those things have to be worked through in discussions
(but) the idea is it would be a separate joint venture with its
own management team," Qube Managing Director Maurice James said
on a separate analyst call.
($1 = 1.3883 Australian dollars)
(Editing by Miral Fahmy)