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International Container Terminal Services, Inc. reported a 68% increase in net income for the first six months of 2021
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Net income attributable to equity holders jumped 73%
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First-half results surpassed the group’s 2019 performance, thanks to favorable market conditions
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Volumes handled grew 14% due to improved trade activities
International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) reported a net income of US$220.6 million for the first half of the year, up 68% from the $131.3 million earned in the same period last year.
Net income attributable to equity holders was $196.7 million, 73% more than the $113.4 million earned in the first half of 2020 primarily due to higher operating income and significantly reduced equity in the net loss of joint ventures.
“I am exceptionally delighted with the performance we have delivered for the first half of 2021 with our volume, revenues and EBITDA rising by 14%, 22%, and 28%, respectively across all three geographic segments,” ICTSI chairman and president Enrique Razon, Jr. said in a statement.
Razon noted the results have surpassed the group’s 2019 performance and “were driven by favorable market conditions and the prudent actions we took at the onset of the pandemic.”
Revenue from port operations in the first six months of 2021amounted to $882.6 million, an increase of 22% from $724.3 million reported in the same period last year.
ICTSI said the improvement was mainly due to volume growth, favorable container mix, tariff adjustments at certain terminals, new contracts with shipping lines and services, higher revenues from ancillary services, and the contribution of new terminals—ICTSI Nigeria Ltd (ICTSNL) in Nigeria, Manila Harbor Center Port Services, Inc. in the Philippines and Kribi Multipurpose Terminal in Cameroon.
Excluding the new terminals, consolidated organic gross revenues would have risen by 21% in the first half of 2021.
Volumes handled for the first six months of the year reached 5.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units, up 14% from the 4.8 million TEUs handled in the same period in 2020.
The increase in volume was primarily due to improvement in trade activities as economies continue to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown restrictions, and to the new shipping lines and services at certain terminals, ICTSI said.
For the second-quarter alone, total consolidated throughput was 20% higher at 2.752 million TEUs from 2.291 million TEUs in 2020.
The group’s consolidated cash operating expenses in the first semester of 2021 was 11% higher at $248.2 million vis-a-vis $222.8 million in the same period in 2020. The increase in cash operating expenses was mainly attributed to higher equipment and facilities-related expenses and contracted services in relation to volume, cost associated with new terminals, and unfavorable foreign exchange effects at certain terminals.
Capital expenditures amounted to $74.4 million and were mainly for ongoing expansions at Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) and at ICTSI DR Congo (IDRC), and for acquisition of port facilities and equipment at ICTSNL.
The group’s capital expenditure budget for 2021 of about $250 million will be utilized mainly for completion of the expansion project at MICT, the ongoing yard expansion at IDRC, the new expansion project at Victoria International Container Terminal in Australia’s Melbourne, and equipment acquisitions and upgrades, as well as to fulfill various maintenance requirements.
ICTSI is involved in 35 terminal concessions and port development projects in 20 countries worldwide.
