International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) reported financial results for the first nine months of 2016 revenues from port operations of US$835.0 million, an increase of 5% over the same period in 2015, defying the industry-wide trend for lower earnings in the wake of the global shipping downturn.
Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) were US$390.3 million, 15% higher than the US$339.5 million generated in the first nine months of 2015, and net income attributable to equity holders of US$141.9 million, up 4% from the US$136.2 million earned in the first three quarter of the previous year.
Net income growth was primarily due to the volume and revenue growth tapered by higher depreciation & amortisation expenses and lower capitalised borrowing costs related to Tecplata S.A. (“Tecplata”), the company’s new terminal in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Excluding the effect of new terminals and projects, consolidated net income attributable to equity holders would have increased by 28%.
For Q3 2016, revenue from port operations increased 18% from US$239.9 million to US$284.2 million while EBITDA was 30% at US$132.9 million from US$102.1 million.
ICTSI handled consolidated volume of 6,435,192 TEUs in the first nine months of 2016, 12% more than the 5,768,248 TEUs handled in the same period in 2015. All three of the Company’s geographic segments in Asia, EMEA and Americas continued to post positive volume growth for the third consecutive quarter. The increase in volume was mainly due to new shipping lines and services, improvement in trade activities in most of the terminals in the Asia region and the continuing ramp-up at ICTSI Iraq.
