ICTSI income more than doubles to $22.8 million in first quarter

MANILA, Philippines - Port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) more than doubled its net income to $22.8 million in the first quarter of 2010, from $11 million in the same period last year.

In a report, the company said first quarter revenues rose to $120.7 million, an increase of 30 percent over the $92.8 million reported last year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) reached $56.6 million, 47 percent higher than the $38.4 million generated in 2009.

Company officials said the higher net income was mainly due to an increase in volume brought about by the surge in global trade and the favorable effect of operating leverage.

 ICTSI handled a consolidated volume of 962,028 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the first quarter of 2010, 27 percent higher compared to the 755,958 TEUs handled in the same period last year. The increase in volume was mainly due to the recovery of the global economy, particularly in markets where ICTSI’s ports are located.

Throughput from the group’s container terminal operations in Asia - comprised of the terminals in the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, China and Brunei - increased 29 percent to 610,401 TEUs from 474,408 TEUs in the same period in 2009. The group’s operations in Asia, which accounted for 63 percent of consolidated volumes in the first quarter of 2010, demonstrated exceptional performance in the first quarter with all operating terminals registering double-digit increases in volumes handled, officials noted.

Meanwhile, ICTSI disclosed that the increase in revenues in the first quarter of 2010 was mainly due to the increase in volumes handled in almost all of the group’s container terminals. In addition, revenue contribution from the group’s six key terminal operations in Manila, Brazil, Poland, Ecuador, Madagascar and China, which accounted for 91 percent of the group’s consolidated revenue for the quarter, increased 28 percent from $85.7 million in 2009 to $109.7 million in 2010. Consolidated yield per TEU for the quarter increased to $125, from $123 for the same period in 2009 mainly due to favorable mix of total containers handled.

Revenue contribution from container terminal operations in Asia increased 37 percent, from $45.7 million in 2009 to $62.8 million in the first quarter of 2010. Revenues from its port operations in Asia accounted for 52 percent of this quarter’s consolidated gross revenue, as compared to 49 percent in the first quarter of 2009.

Consolidated EBITDA margin for the first quarter of 2010 improved to 47 percent against 41 percent in the same period in 2009.

In the first three months of 2010, ICTSI’s capital expenditure amounted to $29.3 million mainly resulting from Tecon Suape S.A.’s (Brazil) acquisition of container handling equipment, Contecon Guayaquil SA’s (Ecuador) civil works in order to expand handling capacity and improve operating efficiency, and Manila International Container Terminal’s (MICT) spending on Berth 6. 

For the full year 2010, the total estimated consolidated capex is around $123 million mainly for civil works, systems improvement and purchase of major cargo handling equipment at its port operations in Manila, Brazil, Ecuador and Madagascar.

ICTSI is currently involved in the operations and development of 19 marine terminals and port projects in 13 countries worldwide.