18th May 2015 08:14
LONDON (Alliance News) - Ocean Wilsons Holdings Ltd Monday said operating earnings at its Wilson Sons maritime logistics and services subsidiary in Brazil rose in the first quarter of 2015, as improved margins in its towage, shipyard and container terminal businesses offset a drop in revenue.
The company said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was up 12.5% on the year to USD45.2 million, from USD40.2 million in the first quarter of 2014, as the margin improvement offset a 6% decline in revenue to USD139.2 million from USD147.7 million. It said increased revenue at its towage and shipyard businesses were offset by lower revenue at the terminal and logistics business.
"Terminal and logistics revenue was impacted by soft volumes at both Tecon Rio Grande and Tecon Salvador, fewer dedicated logistic operations and the adverse impacts of the weaker Brazilian Real on Brazilian Real denominated revenue when converted into US Dollars," it said.
Ocean Wilsons also cut its capital expenditure by almost a quarter, to USD20.8 million from USD27.5 million. It had been spending money on completing the expansion of Tecon Salvador and the the Guarujá II shipyard in 2014.
"The significant evolution of the Towage, Offshore Vessels and Shipyard businesses is a result of the quality of the investments we have made in recent years and the benefits of having a diversified business portfolio," said Cezar Baião, chief executive of the Wilson Sons operations in Brazil.
"In order for the company to adapt to the new economic environment, we are making important decisions to improve operational efficiency through the optimisation of resources and processes in our organisation," he added.
Ocean Wilsons Holdings shares were up 0.6% at 902.50 pence Monday morning.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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