Dubai-based global marine terminal operator, DP World, announced its financial results from its global portfolio for the year ending 31 December, 2016, which saw the company achieve net income of over $1bn for the first time.
On a reported basis, revenue grew 4.9% and adjusted EBITDA increased 17.4% with adjusted EBITDA margin of 54.4%, delivering profit attributable to owners of the company, of $1.1bn, up 27.6%, said a company statement.
The company reported a revenue of $4.16bn, a growth of 4.9% supported by full year contribution of Jebel Ali Free Zone (UAE) and Prince Rupert (Canada). Like-for-like revenue increased by 1.3% driven by a 2.3% increase in containerised revenue.
The group reported a volume growth of 0.4% despite challenging markets. Containerised revenue per TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) grew 4% and total revenue per TEU by 3% on a like-for-like basis.
By the end of 2016, gross global capacity was at 85 million TEU, an increase of approximately 15 million TEU since 2012, and the gourp expects over 100 million TEU of gross capacity by 2020, subject to market demand.
Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, group chairman and CEO, DP World, said: We are pleased to announce another set of strong financial results for 2016, as we delivered earnings in excess of $1bn and above 50% EBITDA margins for the full year for the first time.
Encouragingly, our volumes have continued to grow ahead of the market with gross volumes growing 3.2% vs Drewry full year market estimate of 1.3%. This is pleasing given the significant challenges parts of our portfolio have faced, and once again demonstrates the resilient nature of our diversified portfolio.
Disciplined investment throughout the economic cycle has been one of the keys to delivering consistent growth and in 2016, we invested $1,298 million across our portfolio in markets with strong demand and supply dynamics.
Bin Sulayem added: While 2017 is expected to be another challenging year for global trade, we have made an encouraging start to the year and we expect to continue to deliver ahead-of-market volume growth. Our aim is to continue our disciplined approach to capital allocation in markets with strong growth potential while adding complementary or related services to further diversify and strengthen our business.
The board of DP World recommends increasing the dividend by 26.7% to $315.4mn, reflecting the strong earnings growth in the year. The board is confident of the companys ability to continue to generate cash and support our future growth whilst maintaining a consistent dividend payout.
Our significant cash generation and investment partnerships leave us with a strong balance sheet and flexibility to capitalise on the significant growth opportunities in the industry. Overall, we continue to believe that a portfolio which has a 70% exposure to origin and destination cargo and 75% exposure to faster growing markets will enable us to deliver enhanced shareholder value over the long term, he concluded.
