International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) posted a net income of US$52.4 million for the first quarter of 2014, up 29 percent over the $40.7 million earned in the same period last year.
The Philippine operator, as part of its unaudited consolidated financial results for the quarter ended 31 March 2014, also saw revenues from port operations increase 19 percent to $248.9 million.
Meanwhile, Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) of $103.6 million is six percent higher than the $97.5 million generated in the first quarter of 2013.
ICTSI attributed the surge in its net income to a non-recurring gain from the sale of a non-core asset in Cebu. In January 2014, the company sold its interest in the Cebu International Container Terminal, Inc. to Cebu Asian Rim Property and Development Corp. and Hong Kong Land (Philippines) BV for $13.2 million. Without the sales proceed from Cebu International Container Terminal Inc., the company’s net income would have risen by just six percent to $45.1 million.
During the three month period, ICTSI handled consolidated volumes of 1,757,095 TEU, representing a rise of 17 percent over the corresponding period in 2013.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, ICTSI noted that the increase in volume was mainly due to the continuous improvement in international and domestic trade as well as volume generated by the company’s new terminal operations in Mexico and Honduras, which began operations in November and December 2013, respectively.
Excluding the volume generated by the two new terminals, organic volume growth was up one percent.
The company’s seven key terminal operations in Manila, Brazil, Poland, Ecuador, Madagascar, China and Pakistan accounted for 71 percent of the Group’s consolidated volume in the first quarter of 2014.
