ICTSI reports hike in 9-month net income to P3.6-B

Port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) announced recently that its net income rose nine percent in the first nine months of the year to P3.6 billion, driven by the strong volume growth in all its terminals.

ICTSI said the earnings reported during the nine-month period and in 2001 included non-recurring income from the sale of ICTSI International Holdings Corp. to the Hutchison Group of Hong Kong.

On a recurring basis, ICTSI said it still reported an eight percent growth in net earnings for the period January to September this year.

Profits of ICTSI in the third quarter, however, fell 24 percent to P136.9 million as against P180.4 million in 2001, mainly due to the consolidation of operating losses in the company’s operation in the Port of Suape in Brazil.

Consolidated revenues rose 23 percent from January to September 2002 from P3.2 billion last year to P4 billion. For the third quarter alone, revenues reached P1.5 billion or 36 percent higher than the previous level of P1.5 billion.

During the first nine months of the year, group volume grew 16 percent from 800,286 TEUs to 925,236 TEUs.

At the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT), volume for the first nine months increased 10 percent to 751,985 TEUs.

Despite double-digit volume growth, quay crane productivity at the MICT has remained steady, averaging 32 moves per hour per crane. Expected to further bolster productivity are the installation of two new quay cranes and three rubber tired gantries which were put into operation this month.

The sale transaction to Hutchison involved the sale of 30 million founder shares in IIHC, a subsidiary of ICTSI holding interests in its foreign operations, for which ICTSI received $70.3 million.

The transaction also involved Hutchison’s buyout of the minority shareholders in IIHC. IIHC operates eight container terminals in the six countries of Argentina, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Thailand.

ICTSI said its objective is to clean up its balance sheet in order to explore new business opportunities. The company will use the MICT as its flagship terminal to pursue new port projects here and abroad.