WASHINGTON: Global Ports has reported an after-tax loss of $6.7m for the six months to the end of June against a profit of $0.4m last time/ The group said the result included $15.1m amortisation expense in relation to port operation rights. The group said that having successfully completed the London IPO of GPH in May, it raised net primary proceeds of $73m which would be used to develop and expand its cruise business. Overall revenues during the period declined by 5.7% from H1 2016 ($52.7m) to $49.7m and segmental EBITDA margins fell 110bps to 64.7%. It said: “Ongoing geopolitical developments led to a deterioration of consumer sentiment towards Turkey, and a significant decline in cruise calls at the Turkish cruise ports (particularly Ege) which had a material impact on cruise revenues. “However, weakness in Turkish cruise ports has been partly offset by the strong performance in the Commercial business, which is insulated from regional instability. During this period, Commercial revenue was up 1.6% and commercial segmental EBITDA up 4.9% YoY. “Also, we have seen a strong performance in our European portfolio of cruise ports, with revenues up at Valetta and in the Other Cruise segment in this period.”
Chief executive Emre Sayın said: “While geopolitical developments have had a negative effect on our Turkish Cruise revenues, our Turkish Commercial segment is robust and has performed well. “Our M&A pipeline of international cruise ports remains strong with progress being made on a number of our target acquisitions and we will update the market as these progress. “Our overall strategy of expanding our global footprint of cruise ports from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean and Asia, as set out at the IPO, remains on track. “The result of this will be a reduction in the significance of our Turkish cruise port operation to our overall business.”
