ICTSI profit rose 3% in Q1

International Container Terminal Services Inc., a global ports operator led by tycoon Enrique Razon Jr., said first quarter 2015 profit rose on higher revenues from new ports, a stock exchange filing on Monday showed.

ICTSI said its net income during the three-month period hit $54 million, up 3 percent from the level recorded in the first quarter of 2014.

It said revenue from port operations hit $296.1 million, up 19 percent.

The increase in net income was mainly driven by continued margin improvement at Contecon Manzanillo S.A. (CMSA) in Manzanillo, Mexico and Operadora Portuaria Centroamericana, S.A. de C.V (OPC) in Puerto Cortes, Honduras, as these two container terminals entered their second full year of commercial operations, ICTSI said.

In January 2014, ICTSI booked a $13.2-million one-time gain on the sale of a non-core asset when it divested its holdings in Cebu International Container Terminal Inc.

Removing this gain, recurring net income would have risen 38 percent in the first quarter of 2015.

ICTSI handled consolidated volume of 1.98 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) for the quarter.

“The increase in volume was mainly due to the improvement in international and domestic trade in most of the company’s terminals, new shipping lines and services, continuing volume ramp-up in the company’s terminal operations in Mexico and Honduras,” ICTSI said. It also cited the favorable impact of terminal consolidation at Yantai, China, and the contribution of its new terminal in Basra, Iraq which began commercial operation in November 2014.

ICTSI noted that its eight key terminal operations in Manila, Brazil, Poland, Madagascar, China, Ecuador, Pakistan and Honduras accounted for 82 percent of the group’s consolidated revenues in the first quarter of 2015.

Capital expenditures for the first quarter of 2015 amounted to $64.2 million, approximately 12 percent of the $530-million capital expenditure budget for the full year 2015.

The established budget is mainly allocated for the completion of development at the company’s new container terminals in Mexico and Iraq, capacity expansion in its terminal operation in Manila, and to start the development of the new terminals in Democratic Republic of Congo and Australia.

In addition, ICTSI invested

$16 million in the development of SPIA, its joint venture container terminal development project with PSA International Pte Ltd. (PSA ) in Buenaventura, Colombia.

The company’s share for 2015 to complete phase one of the project is approximately $140 million.

ICTSI is widely acknowledged to be a leading global developer, manager and operator of container terminals in the 50,000 to 2.5 million TEU/year range.

ICTSI has an experience record that spans six continents and it continues to pursue container terminal opportunities in more countries.