The board of directors of COSCO Pacific Limited has announced the consolidated results of the company and its subsidiaries for the year ended 31 December 2015.
The group’s revenue fell by 8.3 % to US$ 798,151,000 (2014: US$870,091,000). Revenue from the terminals business fell by 5.8 % to US$ 486,772,000 (2014: US$516,993,000), mainly due to the depreciation of the Euro and Renminbi against the US dollar.
Piraeus Container Terminal S.A. recorded a stable operational performance. Its revenue in Euro increased by 4.2 %, but the US$ 156,126,000 equivalent represented a decrease of 12.5 % (2014: US$178,466,000) . Revenue from the container leasing, management and sale businesses fell by 11.6 % to US$ 315,675,000 (2014: US$357,075,000).
Due to the significant 55.3% decrease in the number of disposed returned containers and the 15.2% fall in the average resale prices of returned containers compared with last year, revenue from the sale of returned containers decreased substantially, by 62.1%. In addition, lease rates continued to be affected by the sluggish container leasing market, and revenue from container leasing dropped by 3.5%.
The group’s gross profit declined by 7.3 % to US$ 300,104,000 (2014: US$323,857,000). Gross profit margin rose by 0.4 percentage points to 37.6 % (2014: 37.2%) .
Despite revenue from the terminals business having decreased by 5.8 %, the operational performance of Piraeus Terminal and Xiamen Ocean Gate Container Terminal Co., Ltd. improved. Gross profit from the terminals business declined only slightly, by 0.1% .
Gross profit from the container leasing, management and sale businesses recorded a 15.7 % decrease compared with last year. As competition in the container leasing market remained fierce, market lease rates fell. This, combined with the decrease of 0.3 percentage points in the average utilisation rate of the group to 95.0 % (2014: 95.3%), caused the gross profit for container leasing to decline. As a result of the decrease in revenue from the sale of returned containers, gross profit from the sale of returned containers also decreased.
Including the write back of provision on the disposal of 21.8% equity interest in China International Marine Containers (Group) Co., Ltd . (“CIMC”) in 2013 , profit attributable to equity holders of the company increased by 30.4 % to US$ 381,644,000 (2014: US$292,759,000) .
Excluding the write back of provision on the disposal of 21.8% equity interest in CIMC in 2013, profit attributable to equity holders of the company increased by 3.3% to US$ 302,492,000 (2014: US$292,759,000).
The terminal s business experienced slow growth in container throughput and profit due to a slowdown in global economic growth and negative growth of import s and exports in the PRC. Total throughput increased by 2.0% to 68,670,714 TEU (2014: 67,326,122 TEU). Equity throughput increased by 1.1 % to 19, 262,210 TEU (2014: 19,047,214 TEU). Profit rose by 5.7 % to US$ 233,653,000 (2014: US$220,978,000). Profit from the container leasing, management and sale businesses dropped by 13.5 % to US$ 82,849,000 (2014: US$95,757,000). The container fleet size increased by 1.9 % to 1,944, 654 TEU (2014: 1,907,778 TEU) . The proposed final dividend is HK 22.9 cents per share (2014 : HK15. 4 cents), and the dividend will be payable in cash and with a scrip dividend alternative. The full - year dividend amounted to HK 40.2 cents (201 4 : HK 31.0 cents), representing a payout ratio of 40 .0 % (201 4 : 40.0%).