International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) reported yesterday unaudited consolidated reported a 12 percent dip in attributable net income to US$113.4 million in the first half of 2020 from the US$128.5 million earned in the same period last year.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said this is due to lower operating income and the increase in interest on concession rights payable and COVID-19 related expenses.
These were partially offset by a reduction in net loss at its greenfield terminal in Melbourne, Australia and lower equity in net loss of joint ventures.
ICTSI reported that its revenue from port operations declined 4 percent to US$724.3 million from the US$751.8 million reported for the same period last year.
Equity in net loss of joint ventures decreased by 22 percent to US$9.7 million in the first half of 2020 from US$12.4 million for the same period in 2019 mainly due to the decrease in the Company’s share in net loss at Sociedad Puerto Industrial Aguadulce S.A. (SPIA), its joint venture container terminal project with PSA International Pte Ltd. (PSA) in Buenaventura, Colombia.
“Our primary focus and central to our decision making since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak has been, and remains, the safety and wellbeing of our employees, customers, and our stakeholders,” said ICTSI Chairman Enrique K. Razon Jr.
He added that, “We took immediate action to preserve cash and reduced our capital expenditure in what has been a period of significantly reduced economic and international trade activity, brought about by protracted lockdown periods for many countries around the world.”
“These prudent measures taken early on, our diversified portfolio and maintaining a very high level of service to our clients has helped cushioned the impact from the pandemic and generated a resilient and better than expected performance,” Razon said.
He noted that, “COVID-19 is now the major challenge for most businesses globally and we expect the second half of the year will continue to be challenging and marked with uncertainties. However, ICTSI is well-positioned to navigate through these uncertain times, underpinned by our 32 terminals diversely located around the world, the resilience of our business model, agility and a strong capital structure.”
ICTSI handled consolidated volume of 4,799,765 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) for the first six months of 2020, five percent less than the 5,041,916 TEUs handled in the same period in 2019.
The decrease in volume was primarily due to the decline in trade activities which resulted from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global trade and lockdown restrictions.
Excluding the contribution of the new terminal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, ICTSI Rio, consolidated organic volume would have decreased six percent in the first half of 2020.