Bruce Barnard, Special Correspondent | Mar 29, 2012 10:09AM EDT
DP World booked an 82 percent increase in profit in 2011 at $683 million, up from $372 million a year earlier, driven by gains on the sale of a majority stake in its Australian container terminals.
Profit before exceptional items was up 23 percent at $459 million on revenue down three percent at $2.98 billion, the Dubai-based port operator said.
DP World sold a 75 percent stake in its Australian unit to an investment group headed by Citigroup for $1.5 billion
Container traffic increased 11 percent in the first two months of 2012, the world’s third largest container terminal operator said.
“2011 has been another good year for DP World with the second half of the year delivering a better performance than the first half,” said Mohammed Sharaf, DP World Chief Executive. “This improved performance was achieved despite a deteriorating economic backdrop in the second half.”
DP World is investing in an additional one million 20-foot equivalent units capacity at its Jebel Ali port in Dubai and in a new 4 million TEUs-a-year terminal that will be operational in 2014. Its 3.5 million TEUs-a-year London Gateway terminal is due to start operations in the fourth quarter of 2013.
DP World boosted traffic by 10 percent in 2011 to 54.7 million TEUs across more than 60 terminals around the world. Volume at its consolidated terminals declined to 27.5 million TEUs from 27.8 million due to the disposal of its Australian terminals.
