New cruise terminal concessions and record passenger numbers have helped Global Ports Holding (GPH) maintain a stable profit in 2018.
The London-listed port operator posted underlying profit of $26.6m last year, a 6.8% reduction on the $28.5m it recorded in 2017.
Operating profit more than doubled year on year, growing from $10.9m in 2017 to $35.9m last year.
GPH said this was due to a partial reversal of replacement provisions for Spanish cruise ports, valued at $12.2m, and positive effects from its Turkish Lira-based cost structure at its operations in Turkey.
GPH’s results found support from a 7.2% year-on-year increase in total consolidated revenue, which was $124.8m in 2018.
The company’s net finance cost, however, rose by $8.9m to $32.9m between 2017 and 2018, which GPH said was mainly due to a negative foreign exchange effect on its Eurobond debt.
“I am proud of our performance in the year - record passenger volumes, record adjusted EBITDA, our first new port investments since IPO, including a management agreement for Havana, our first in the Americas, and the extension of Bodrum concession by 49 years is a reflection of considerable progress across the Group in 2018,” Emre Sayin, GPH’s chief executive, said.
As well as the management agreement at Havana, Cuba, GPH signed a concession agreement for Zadar Gazenica cruise port in Croatia during 2018.
Since the end of the financial year, GPH has also signed concession agreements at ports in Antigua & Barbuda and has won preferred bidder status in Nassau, Bahamas.
GPH reported “strong performance” at its cruise ports in Barcelona and Malaga during 2018, as well as from its equity-accounted associate ports at Lisbon, Singapore and Venice.
The weak spots in its network were Valletta in Malta and its cruise ports in Turkey, which suffered from lower passenger volumes last year, GPH said in its report.
“Since the year end, overall trading has been in line with our expectations and with an active pipeline of new port opportunities we look to 2019 with confidence,” said Sayin.
