ATHENS: Revenue from the terminals business rose by 13.6% to US$516,993,000, the increase being mainly attributable to Piraeus Container Terminal S.A. Revenue from the container leasing, management and sale businesses rose by 2.7% to US$357,075,000.
During the year, the fleet size of owned containers and sale-and-leaseback containers and the number of returned containers disposed of increased by 2.6% and 42.4% respectively. However, due to lower lease rates and resale prices of returned containers, the revenue growth was slower than the growth in the number of containers.
The Group’s gross profit rose by 1.8% to US$323,857,000 (2013: US$318,169,000). Gross profit margin dropped by 2.6 percentage points to 37.2% (2013: 39.8%).
The terminals business achieved satisfactory growth in gross profit, mainly supported by improving operations of Xiamen Ocean Gate Terminal.
In addition, stable growth in operations was recorded at Guangzhou South China Oceangate Terminal and Piraeus Terminal, driving up the gross profit of the terminals business.
Gross profit from the container leasing, management and sale businesses decreased. Although demand for leasing increased, the leasing rates remained at low level in the competitive container leasing market and some container leases with higher leasing rates fell due, resulting in a lower gross profit for container leasing.
Meanwhile, the resale prices of returned containers remained under pressure, whereas the average carrying amount of returned containers disposed of increased year-on-year.
This led to a significant drop in both the gross profit and the gross profit margin on the disposal of returned containers.
Excluding the discontinued operationNote, profit attributable to equity holders of the Company increased by 2.3% to US$292,759,000 (2013: US$286,206,000).
The terminals business saw a sustainable growth in container throughput. Total throughput increased by 9.9% to 67,326,122 TEU (2013: 61,284,891 TEU). Equity throughput increased 10.8% to 19,047,214 TEU (2013: 17,196,297 TEU). Profit rose by 18.3% to US$220,978,000 (2013: US$186,767,000).
Profit from the container leasing, management and sale businesses dropped by 23.6% to US$95,757,000 (2013: US$125,259,000).
The container fleet size increased by 1.0% to 1,907,778 TEU (2013: 1,888,200 TEU), with an overall average utilisation rate of 95.3% (2013: 94.5%). Although the overall average utilisation rate in 2014 increased, lease rates remained low throughout the year and profit margin from the disposal of returned containers dropped, resulting in lower overall profit from the business.
The proposed final dividend is HK15.4 cents per share (2013: HK15.0 cents), and the dividend will be payable in cash and with a scrip dividend alternative. The full-year dividend amounted to HK31.0 cents (2013: HK77.4 cents) representing a payout ratio of 40.0% (2013: 40.0%).
