Bruce Barnard, Special Correspondent | Aug 29, 2012 9:20AM EDT
DP World’s profit stalled in the first half even as Dubai’s state-owned global container terminal operator increased its world market share.
Profit grew just 0.6 percent to $283 million from $281 million in the first six months of 2011 as revenue increased 1.8 percent to $1.53 billion.
Pretax profit grew 1.5 percent to $310 million, and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization rose 4.2 percent to $672 million.
DP World’s consolidated terminals handled 13.59 million 20-foot-equivalent units, a 0.9 percent increase on 13.47 million TEUs in the year-earlier period. Total volume, including joint ventures and managed terminals, was 7.5 percent higher at 28.2 million TEUs.
The company said it would have posted double-digit growth in profit and revenue but for deconsolidation in mid-March of five terminals in Australia following the $1.5 billion sale of a 75 percent stake to U.S.-based Citi Infrastructure Investors.
Revenue in the Middle East, Africa and Europe jumped 14 percent to $1.03 billion, and adjusted operating earnings surged 18 percent to $477 million.
But revenue in the Asia-Pacific and the Indian subcontinent fell 6 percent to $233 million, and earnings were down 1 percent at $159 million.
There was a 23 percent decline in revenue in Australia and the Americas because of the deconsolidation of the Australian terminals, which resulted in a 37 percent drop in earnings to $77 million.
“The global economic uncertainty seen in the first half of the year has continued into the second half,” DP World CEO Mohammed Sharaf said.
“Our portfolio … continues to show resilience, and we remain committed to delivering an improved operational and financial performance over 2011.”
DP World repaid $3 billion of debt in March using part of the cash held in the group’s balance sheet, reducing gross debt to $4.7 billion and cutting the cash balance to $1.2 billion.
Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.