China Merchants Holdings (International) Company Limited's interim profit up 10.2% led by cost-efficiency improvement measures and higher container volume as overseas operations roll out, said in the company's press release.
• Container throughput handled rose 11.8% year-on-year to 32.66 million TEUs
• Bulk cargo volume handled rose 8.8% to 177 million tonnes
• Profit attributable to equity holders amounted to HKArticleContent,935 million (1H 2012: HKArticleContent,756 million), or a 10.2% year-on-year increase
• Profit attributable to equity holders derived from ports operation amounted to HKArticleContent,906 million (1H 2012: HKArticleContent,655 million), or a 15.2% year-on-year increase
• Ports operation recorded an EBITDA of HK$4,776 million (1H 2012: HK$4,418 million), an increase of 8.1% year-on-year
• Basic earnings per share was 77.67 HK cents (1H 2012: 70.97 HK cents), up 9.4% year-on-year
• Proposed interim dividend was 22 HK cents (1H 2012: 22 HK cents), implying payout ratio of 28.7%
Dr. Fu Yuning, Chairman of the Board, said, "With contributions from overseas operations flowing in, container volume handled by the Group during the first half of 2013 reached 32.66 million TEUs, up 11.8% year-on-year. While the pressure on the Group’s operations resulted from the weak economic recovery momentum globally continued to prevail, through implementing cost-effective control measures alongside growing contributions from the new operations overseas, the Group has, yet again, shown resilience in its core ports business by recording a profit attributable to equity holders of HKArticleContent,935 million during the period, up 10.2% year-on-year, within which HKArticleContent,906 million was derived from the Group's ports operation, up 15.2% year-on-year."
The Group recorded revenue (Note 1) of HK$20,131 million for the six months ended 30 June 2013, down 4.4% on a year-on-year basis. Profit attributable to equity holders amounted to HKArticleContent,935 million, an increase of 10.2% over the same period of last year, which translates into basic earnings per share of 77.67 HK cents, up 9.4% year-on-year.
Revenue generated from the Group's core ports operation amounted to HK$9,571 million, up 5.2% year-on-year. Ports operations recorded an EBITDA (Note 2) totaling HK$4,776 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 8.1%, and an EBIT (Note 3) of HK$3,523 million, a growth of 10.4% over the same period last year.
China International Marine Containers (Group) Co., Ltd. ("CIMC") recorded a profit attributable to equity holders of RMB552 million, down 40.9% year-on-year. EBIT it contributed to the Group amounted to HK$429 million, down 20.6% year-on-year.
During the first half of 2013, the weak growth in global trade velocity and China's foreign trade showing consecutively downwards trends have stressed the Company's ports business. However, efforts directed by the Group in refining and upgrading its management system and in pursuing various key initiatives on various fronts while pushing for rolling out internationally have enabled the Company to achieve notable growth amid such adverse external operating environment.
During the first half of the year, the Group handled 32.66 million TEUs, with a year-on-year growth of 11.8%. Bulk cargo volume handled rose by 8.8% year-on-year to 177 million tonnes. Container throughput handled by the Group’s Mainland China ports increased 6.0% over that for the same period of last year.