Piraeus Port Authority Reports Solid First Half Results, Despite Pandemic Impact
The BoD of PPA S.A. approved the financial statements for the first semester of 2020.
The basic figures are the following:
The turnover amounted to € 66.5 million which compared to € 70.6 million to the same period of 2019, is showing a decrease of 5.8% (€ 4.1 million). This change is mainly due to the significant reduction of revenues from the Cruise sector by 83.9(€ 3.7 million), the revenues of the Coastal Shipping sector by 32.8% (€ 1.6 million) as well as the revenues from the Car Terminal by 28.3% ( € 2.2 million). The above decrease was mainly counterbalanced by an increase in revenues at the Container Terminal by 17.8% (€ 2.0 million ) and revenues from the Ship Repair sector by 21.8% € 1.4 million.
The total expenses amount to € 44.8 million compared to € 49.4 million in the first half of 2019 (-9.2%).
The profit before tax for the six months period amounted to € 20.9 million compared to € 21.9 million in the corresponding period of 2019, reduced by 4.7% and earnings after taxes amount to € 15.5 million, reduced by 2.2% compared to € 15.9 million in the first half of 2019.
The Chairman of the Board PPA SA Mr. YU Zenggang commented:
“Despite the undeniable impact of COVID-19 on PPA activities, we make great efforts to reduce the negative side effects on our financial results. The second half is expected to be even more challenging due to the impact on Cruise sector and Coastal Shipping, however we are strengthening our actions in every other business unit, especially in Containers and Ro-Ro sector”.
Cosco’s “Piraeus Container Terminal” to Provide Project Management Services to Piraeus Port Authority for Operating Pier I
The Board of Directors of the company under the name “Piraeus Port Authority Société Anonyme” (hereinafter “PPA S.A.”) announces that at its meeting of 20.02.2020 it has decided to provide a permission, in accordance with article 100 par. 1 of Law 4548/2018, for the conclusion of a transaction of PPA S.A. with the company under the name “PIRAEUS CONTAINER TERMINAL S.A.” (hereinafter “PCT S.A.”), which is a related party to PPA S.A. In particular, PPA S.A. as a subsidiary of “COSCO SHIPPING (Hong Kong) Limited” and PCT S.A. as a subsidiary of “COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited” are related parties within the meaning of Article 99 par. 2 (a) of L. 4548/2018, as ultimate subsidiaries of “China COSCO SHIPPING Corporation Limited” (“COSCO SHIPPING Group”).
The subject of the transaction will be the provision of project management services by PCT S.A. to PPA S.A. for the business operation of Pier I of PPA S.A. and the main points of the contract, which has been executed today, 01/04/2020, under usual commercial terms, are the following: PCT S.A. will provide to PPA S.A. a wide range of highly specialized services related to the operation of the PIER I Container Terminal, for the purpose of PPA S.A. to achieve:
(i) the overall utilization of the Piraeus Container Terminal resources,(ii) the increase of the total throughput of Pier I of the port of Piraeus,(iii) the improvement of the quality of services provided by PPA S.A. in the Container Terminal of Pier I.
The fee of PCT S.A. will be a fixed annual service fee of sixty seven thousand Euros (€ 67,000.00) plus VAT, plus an additional management fee of four Euros (€ 4) per move, for any moves that exceed the throughput targets agreed each time, which for the period from the signing of the contract until January 31, 2021 will be 650,000 TEUs, with PCT S.A. guaranteeing throughput for this period of not less than 500,000 TEUs. The term of the contract will be three (3) years from the date of signature, with the possibility of a written extension and the right to terminate upon prior written notice (thirty days for substantial reason, or six months for any other reason). The applicable law will be Greek, and any disputes will be settled by arbitration, in accordance with ICC Rules.
For providing permission for the above transaction, the Board of Directors of PPA S.A. considered the fairness opinion dated 19/02/2020 of the auditing firm “Audit Plus S.A. Auditors”, with SOEL Registry Number 172, as signed by the Chartered Accountant and Certified Auditor Gerassimos Anast. Zafeiratos with SOEL Registry Number 20901, which assesses that the transaction is fair and reasonable for the Company and its non-related shareholders, including minority shareholders, and explains the assumptions on which it is based, together with the methods used.
The PPA S.A. Board of Directors minutes dated 20.02.2020, accompanied by the fairness opinion, was registered in the General Business Registry (GEMI) on 27.02.2020, according to the announcement nr. 23639 of the department for supervision of Listed Sociétés Anonymes of the General Secretariat for Commerce & Consumer Protection.
Piraeus Port First Quarter Throughput Dominates Overseas Port of COSCO SHIPPING Ports Group
COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited, the world’s leading ports operator, announced first quarter results of the Company and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) for the three months ended 31 March 2019.2019 First Quarter Results Highlight– Revenue was US$247.7million +4.1%yoy– Gross profit was US$70.1million, -5.2%yoy– Share of profits from JV and associates was US$61.9million, -2.2%yoy– Net Profit was 49.9 million, -27.9%yoy– Adjusted net profit was US$75.4million, +8.9%yoy*– Adjusted earnings per share was US2.42cents, +7.1%yoy**excluding one-off dilution effect on equity interest from QPI & impact from HKIFRS16OPERATIONAL REVIEW– Total throughput was 28,731,733 TEU, +5.6%yoy– Organic growth of total throughput was +4.9%yoy– Total throughput from subsidiaries was 5,943,433 TEU, +13.5%yoy– Total equity throughput was 9,282,056 TEU, +7.7%yoy
Greater ChinaFor the three months ended 31 March 2019, Greater China region remains the majorcontributor. Total throughput of the region increased by 3.6% year on year to 22,107,759 TEU (1Q2018: 21,340,721 TEU), accounting for 76.9% of the Group’s total throughput. Equity throughput of the Greater China region increased by 3.1% to 6,302,916 TEU (1Q2018: 6,111,124 TEU), accounting for 67.9% of the Group’s equity throughput.Bohai RimThroughput of the Bohai Rim region increased by 3.8% to 9,196,254 TEU (1Q2018: 8,861,911 TEU) and made up 32.0% of the Group’s total throughput. Equity throughput increased by 1.7% to 2,046,101 TEU (1Q2018: 2,011,916 TEU), accounting for 22.0% of the Group’s Equity throughput.Yangtze River DeltaTotal throughput of the Yangtze River Delta region increased by 4.6% to 4,849,042 TEU (1Q2018: 4,636,858 TEU) and made up 16.9% of the Group’s total throughput. Equitythroughput increased by 8.1% to 1,437,913 TEU (1Q2018: 1,330,646 TEU) and made up 15.5% of the Group’s equity throughput. Total throughput of Shanghai Pudong InternationalContainer Terminals Limited and Shanghai Mingdong Container Terminals Limited decreased by 3.0% and 2.5% respectively, mainly impacted by adjustment of shipping routes within the port area and the unstable weather in March.Southeast Coast and OthersTotal throughput of the Southeast Coast and others region decreased by 0.8% to 1,343,975 TEU (1Q2018: 1,354,840 TEU), accounted for 4.7% of the Group’s total throughput. Equity throughput increased by 0.5% to 798,407 TEU (1Q2018: 794,040) and accounted for 8.6% of the Group’s equity throughput. Total throughput of Xiamen Ocean Gate Container Terminal Co., Ltd. decreased by 4.1% to 505,297 TEU (1Q2018: 526,660 TEU).Pearl River DeltaTotal throughput of the Pearl River Delta region increased by 3.0% to 6,397,906 TEU (1Q2018: 6,211,464 TEU) and accounted for 22.3% of the Group’s total throughput. Equity throughput increased by 1.5% to 1,892,262 TEU (1Q2018: 1,864,261 TEU) and accounted for 20.4% of the Group’s equity throughput. Total throughput from Guangzhou South China Oceangate Container Terminal Company Limited increased by 15.1% to 1,380,501 TEU (1Q2018: 1,199,785 TEU).Southwest CoastTotal throughput of the Southwest Coast region increased by 16.3% to 320,582 TEU (1Q2018: 275,648 TEU) and accounted for 1.1% of the Group’s total throughput. Equity throughput increased by 16.3% to 128,233 TEU (1Q2018: 110,259 TEU) and accounted for 1.4% of the Group’s equity throughput.Overseas RegionsTotal throughput of overseas region increased by 13.0% to 6,623,974 TEU (1Q2018: 5,861,659 TEU) and accounted for 23.1% of the Group’s total throughput. Equity throughput increased by 18.7% to 2,979,140 TEU (1Q2018: 2,510,352 TEU) and accounted for 32.1% of the Group’s equity throughput. Total throughput of COSCO-PSA Terminal Private Limited surged 54.2% to 1,215,844 TEU (1Q2018: 788,240 TEU), mainly due to two new berths added in January 2019 and driven by the synergy from acquisition of Orient Overseas (International) Limited by the parent company and increased throughput from parent company. In addition, fueled by increased calls by the OCEAN Alliance and other shipping alliances, total throughput of Piraeus Container Terminal S.A. in Greece increased by 24.4% to 1,246,007 TEU (1Q2018: 1,001,438 TEU). Total throughput of COSCO SHIPPING Ports (Spain) Holdings, S.L. and its subsidiaries (“CSP Spain Group”) increased by 10.6% to 917,937 TEU (1Q2018: 829,769 TEU).OutlookAlthough there are still uncertainties in the global economy in 2019, the market expects that Sino-US trade war may reach agreement, low interest rates environment continues and China and Europe will continue to strengthen cooperation to promote “Belt and Road Initiative”, which may gather momentum of growth for global economy. COSCO SHIPPING Ports is committed to building global terminal network continuously and strategically exploring investment opportunities of overseas terminals, in order to strive for better returns. Meanwhile, the Group will continue to optimise asset returns to further enhance its profitability, with the aim of maintaining return on equity (ROE) on upward trend. In 2019, the Group will endeavor to improve efficiency.As a leading global terminal operator, COSCO SHIPPING Ports will continue to provide higher quality services to customers. It is expected that three terminals of the Company, namely CSP Zeebrugge Terminal NV, Noatum Container Terminal Valencia, S.A.U. under the CSP Spain Group and Lianyungang New Oriental International Terminals Co., Ltd. will launch the Navis N4 system to improve the efficiency of the terminal operations in the second half of 2019.COSCO SHIPPING Ports will continue to step up the development of terminal extended logistic business to enhance its profitability. On 3 April 2019, the Group signed investment agreement of COSCO SHIPPING Ports Supply Chain Project with Guangzhou Nansha Economic and Technology Development Zone Commercial Bureau, in order to develop port supply chain platform and high-end warehousing business, and extend the upstream and downstream industries.
PPA S.A. honored with a Special Award in the “Environment” category at the 4th Annual Sustainability Summit 2019
PPA S.A. was honored with a Special Award in the “Environment” category for the “Environmental Quality Monitoring Programs in collaboration with Academic Institutions and Special Scientific Associates” during the 4th Annual Sustainability Summit 2019, organized by the Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) in cooperation with the MBA International of the Athens University of Economics and Business.
Upon receipt of the award, Mr. Nektarios Demenopoulos, Deputy Manager of Public Relations, Investor Relations & Company Announcements Department, stated: “For Piraeus Port Authority, the environmental protection is not only a priority but a part of its everyday business activities and an important criterion for any action it implements. The sustainable development is main target of the company, so that the positive effects of the port development to diffuse into the local communities without harming the next generations”.
Summit title this year was “Innovation for Sustainability – Business leaders discussing how to embed innovative practices in corporate sustainability strategy”, with a great participation of companies’ executives, students and professors from Greece and abroad, as well as Media representatives.
Piraeus Port Authority S.A. consistently implements actions and programs aiming at the environmental protection, having already successfully completed since 2018 the environmental certification review according to the Environmental Review System (PERS) and received the new PERS Certificate from the independent verification body Lloyd’s Register.
In this framework, PPA S.A. has developed and implements a specific environmental policy, monitoring continuously the environmental parameters in relation to its activities, intending at the same time to the continuous improvement of its environmental performance, following the European and international standards, aiming at the environmental protection and conservation of natural resources.
All of the above data will be included extensively in the Corporate Social Responsibility Report based on the International GRI Standards and will be published by PPA S.A.