DP World Sees Surge in 1H Earnings

Dubai’s port and terminal operator DP World has seen a 50.2 percent surge in its year-on-year earnings from USD 405 million reported in the first half of 2015 to USD 608 million in the first half of 2016.

The company’s revenue for the period grew by 10.2 percent to USD 2 billion from a revenue of USD 1.9 billion reported in the first half of 2015.

DP World noted a slight increase of 1.6 percent in its consolidated throughput as it handled a total of 14.6 million TEUs during the six-month period, against 14.3 million TEUs handled in the same period in 2015.

On a like-for-like basis, revenue grew 2.5 percent while attributable earnings were up 4.3 percent, reflecting the challenging global trade environment, the company said.

“This financial performance has been achieved despite uncertain market conditions,” DP World Group Chairman and CEO, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, said, adding that the operator invested USD 586 million of capex in key growth markets so far this year.

According to Bin Sulayem, the outlook for trade growth remains uncertain, however, “we believe our portfolio is well positioned to continue to outperform the market.”

Looking ahead to the second half of the year, DP World expects throughput performance to improve, and like-for-like financial performance to be similar to the first half.

The company added that the strong financial performance of the first six months “leaves us well placed to meet full-year market expectations.”