ICTSI 9-month profit up 97pc to US$73 million, TEU volume up 21pc

MANILA's International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI), a major global port operator, has reported a 97 per cent net profit increase to US$73 million for the first nine months of the year, drawing on revenues of $380.6 million, an increase of 27 per cent.

Pre-tax profit stood at $182.4 million, a 41 per cent increase year on year. The higher net profit was attributable to the upsurge in revenues, modest increase in cash operating expenses, lower effective tax rate for the period and a one-time gain on sale of non-core assets, said a company statement.

"We continue to see a strong growth trend in volumes and revenues across our portfolio of terminals. Our financial results for the first nine months of the year have exceeded the same period in 2008, our previous record performance," said ICTSI chairman and president Enrique Razon.

For the quarter ending September 30, revenue from port operations increased 21 per cent, from $110.5 million to $133.6 million. Pre-tax profit was up 30 per cent from $49.2 million to $63.8 million.

Third quarter net profit grew 119 per cent, from $14 million to $30.7 million. This included non-recurring income related to the sale of ICTSI's 9.54 per cent ownership stake in Subic Shipyard and Engineering Inc and 8.56 per cent in Consort Land Inc and a write-down of the carrying value of certain property assets related to the company's project in Buenaventura, Colombia.

Removing the effect of these one-time charges, net income attributable to equity holders for the period would have been $21.3 million, a 52 per cent year-on-year increase.

ICTSI handled consolidated volume of 3,070,246 TEU in the first nine months of 2010, 21 per cent higher compared to the 2,533,951 TEU handled in the same period in 2009. The increase in volume was mainly due to the continued recovery in global trade, particularly in markets where ICTSI's ports are located, said the company statement.

Compared to the 2,776,973 TEU handled in the first nine months of 2008, the highest January to September throughput level recorded until this year, the group's consolidated volume for the same period in 2010 was higher by 11 per cent. For the quarter ending September 30, 2010, total TEU handled were 1,060,641 TEU compared to 943,805 TEU in 2009.

Throughput from the company's container terminal operations in Asia increased 21 per cent to 1,941,101 TEU in the first nine months of 2010, from 1,604,787 TEU in the same period in 2009. The group's container terminal operations in Asia continued to be the biggest contributor in terms of volume accounting for 63 per cent of consolidated volume in the first three quarters of 2010.

For the third quarter of 2010, throughput from the group's Asian operations grew nine per cent to 652,164 TEU from 597,076 TEU in the same period in 2009.

Source: SchedNet