By James A .Loyola
International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) reported a 77 percent spike in attributable net income to US$72.4 million in the first quarter of 2019 from the US$40.9 million earned in the same period last year.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said the surge in earnings is due to the strong operating income highlighted by strong operational and financial performance at VICT in Melbourne, Australia, lower financing charges, and a significant improvement in the operations at Sociedad Puerto Industrial Aguadulce S.A. (SPIA).
SPIA, its joint venture container terminal project with PSA International Pte. Ltd. (PSA) in Buenaventura, Colombia, posted a lower net loss share of US$6.3 million compared to US$8.9 million in the same period in 2018 as the company continued to ramp-up container volume.
Revenue from port operations rose 18 percent to US$383.8 million from the US$325.4 million reported for the same period last year.
“ICTSI has continued to grow and delivered a strong first quarter financial performance underpinned by operational improvements and higher contributions from our new ports including VICT in Melbourne Australia, Lae and Motukea in Papua New Guinea,” said ICTSI Chairman and President Enrique K. Razon Jr.
He added that, “while we remain very mindful of the economic backdrop, we remain confident about the future prospects of the business as we build on this positive momentum.”
ICTSI handled consolidated volume of 2,478,672 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, seven percent more than the 2,325,540 TEUs handled in the same period in 2018.
The increase in volume was primarily due to improvement in trade activities, new shipping lines and services and continuous volume ramp-up at certain terminals.
The increase in revenues was mainly due to volume growth; tariff adjustments at certain terminals; new contracts with shipping lines and services; increased in revenues from non- containerized cargoes, storage and ancillary services; and the contribution from the Company’s new terminals in Lae and Motukea in Papua New Guinea.
ICTSI is allotting US$380.0 million capital expenditures budget for the full year 2019, mainly for the ongoing expansion projects in Manila, Mexico and Iraq; equipment acquisitions and upgrades; and for maintenance requirements.