ICTSI, ATI set capex budgets for ’12

The country’s leading port operators have set their budgets for the next 12 months, planning to develop existing facilities and initiate new projects.

Listed firm International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) announced in a disclosure that it had set aside $550 million in capital expenditures for 2012. This is more than double the amount it spent last year.

“The group expects to fund its capital expenditures through a combination of available cash balances, new bank loans and internally generated funds,” the company said.

Over half of this—about $345 million—would be for Greenfield projects in Argentina, Mexico and Colombia. The balance has been earmarked for operations in Manila, Croatia, Brazil and Ecuador.

ICTSI has operations in 16 different countries around the world.

Last year, ICTSI’s profit reached $130 million, up by 33 percent over that of the previous year. This came as revenues from port operations rose to $664 million, 26 percent up year on year.

“The higher net income attributable to equity holders was mainly due to the upsurge in revenues, lower financing charges, lower effective tax rate and a one-time gain on the sale of non-core assets,” the company said in a previous statement.

Meanwhile, Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI), which handles several domestic ports, said its capital expenditures for the year would likely total P1.4 billion.

This is lower than the P2 billion programmed in 2011.

“The money would be mostly for crane rail extension in Pier 3 in order to increase the berthing capacity of South Harbor” in Manila, ATI said.

“To increase the capacity and improve service level to the port users, the planned investments in South Harbor will include upgrades and development in infrastructure, acquisitions and refurbishments of cargo handling equipment, and systems enhancements,” the company added.

ATI said it would also continue investing in the Batangas Container Terminal.

This will involve “infrastructure development and cargo handling equipment acquisition.”

“All the capital expenditures will be sourced from internally generated funds,” the company said.

ATI recently reported that in 2011, its profit dropped by 29 percent from the P1.52 billion it posted the previous year.