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INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) on Wednesday
said its profit growth slowed in the second quarter to single-digit
levels.
The publicly-listed port operator told the
Philippine Stock Exchange that profit attributable to equity holders
went up by 6 percent to P784 million in the three months ending
June, from the P736-million earned in the same period last year.
Excluding unrealized gain and loss, the company
said its second quarter net income would have been 77 percent higher
at P913 million this year from P517 million last year.
In the first quarter, ICTSI’s net income had
risen 29 percent to P799 million year on year.
The second-quarter results led the company’s
first-half earnings to rise 17 percent to P1.58 billion from P1.35
billion in the same six-month period last year.
ICTSI said second-quarter gross revenues from
port operations jumped 53 percent to P5.04 billion from the P 3.29
billion reported in the same period last year. Revenues from the
existing business units improved by 24 percent, accounting for 46
percent of total consolidated revenue growth during the quarter.
Combined revenues from new port operations in
Ecuador, Georgia and Syria accounted for 54 percent of total
consolidated revenue growth. Revenue contribution from international
operations surged 88 percent to P2.76 billion in the second quarter
this year from P1.47 billion last year.
Foreign operations accounted for 55 percent of
this quarter’s consolidated gross revenue, as compared with 45
percent last year, and 49 percent for the full year 2007. Revenue
contribution from domestic operations grew 25 percent to P2.27
billion from P1.81 billion in the same quarter last year.
“In spite of the general unease about the
potential impact of the slowing global economy on trade and
containerized cargo volumes, ICTSI continues to see strong business
and financial results across our portfolio,” Enrique K. Razon Jr.
ICTSI chairman and president said.
“In addition to improving performance at our
existing terminals, we continue to achieve improvements at the
terminals we acquired last year, and are actively looking for
additional acquisition opportunities,” he added.
ICTSI said it handled consolidated volume of
913,718 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the second quarter,
42 percent higher than the 642,274 TEUs handled in the same period
in 2007. For the first six months the total TEUs handled reached
1,755,474 compared with 1,284,748 last year, for a 37-percent year
on year increase.
Domestic operations accounted for 460,016 TEUs,
or 50 percent of consolidated volumes for the second quarter. Volume
from domestic operations grew by 19 percent mainly due to an
18-percent increase at MICT (Manila International Container
Terminal) and a 34-percent increase at DIPSSCOR, the company’s
port operations in Davao, southern Philippines.
The company also said the at end-June, ICTSI
invested P3.14 billion to expand the handling capacity and improve
the operating efficiency of the company’s operations in Manila,
Brazil and Madagascar, as well as pay for the acquisition and
rehabilitation of the new terminals in Ecuador, Syria, Georgia, and
Colombia. The company’s consolidated capital expenditure for this
year is estimated at P11.63 billion. The company expects to meet
funding requirements for these expenditures from internally
generated funds and a committed bank facility.
-- Darwin G. Amojelar
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