30th Nov 2009 07:00
Press-release
NCSP Consolidated Financial Results for the Nine Months of 2009
November 30, 2009
Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (LSE: NCSP, RTS and MICEX: NMTP) announces interim condensed consolidated financial results (unaudited) for the nine months ended 30 September 2009 in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
The full text of interim condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited) for the nine months ended 30 September 2009 of the NCSP Group are available on the Group's website at: http://nmtp.info/en/ncsp/investors/
Key financial indicators of the Group (USD '000)
|
Indicator |
9M 2009 |
9M 2008 |
Change, percent |
|
Revenue |
508 238 |
487 560 |
4.2% |
|
Gross profit |
338 615 |
222 067 |
52.5% |
|
Operating profit |
299 684 |
172 481 |
73.7% |
|
Adjusted EBITDA* |
353 959 |
266 336 |
32.9% |
|
Finance costs |
24 204 |
29 039 |
-16.7% |
|
Net profit |
208 084 |
106 335 |
95.7% |
|
Investments* |
55 434 |
89 838 |
-38.3% |
|
Net debt* |
196 146 |
443 069 |
-55.7% |
|
Net debt / Adjusted EBITDA* (annualized) |
0.42 |
1.25 |
-66.4% |
|
Cargo turnover (thousand tonnes) |
65.22 |
60.34 |
8.1% |
* The data are hereinafter provided according to the management reporting
Commenting on the financial results for the nine months of 2009, NCSP Chairman Alexander Ponomarenko said: «We continue to demonstrate consistent growth in operating and financial indicators capitalizing on such competitive strengths of our business as highly diversified cargo base, deep water harbor, and well developed stevedoring and inland infrastructure. Still today our container capacity is substantially underutilized as a result of the overall reduction of Russian imports. Growing demand for imported goods in both the consumer and the industrial segments of the Russian economy will support the recovery of container shipping, which in turn will increase NCSP's container capacity utilization rates driving further growth in operating and financial indicators of the Group in the short term».
«In the mid- and long-term prospective we continue to place stake on implementing the Group's investment program as planned, including the development of the new 1.2 million TEU container terminal project, and the 4 million tonnes fuel oil terminal which we will start building next year».
Revenue
NCSP Group revenues increased by USD 20.7 million and reached USD 508.2 million in the nine months of 2009. The Group's consolidated revenues grew by 4.2 percent versus nine months of 2008 being affected by a number of positive and negative developments.
Growing cargo traffic and changes in the cargo mix were the key revenue drivers bringing it up by USD 53.3 million* in absolute terms. This hike is backed up by almost twofold increase in grain volumes delivered mostly by Novorossiysk Grain Terminal, by some extra 2 million tonnes of iron ore, and by 1 million tonnes increase in diesel fuel volumes at IPP terminal.
The cost of bunkering fuel in dollar terms declined over nine months of 2009 versus same period last year, which reduced Group's consolidated revenues by USD 31.2 million*, offset by corresponding reduction in bunkering operations costs. Meanwhile the volume of bunkering operations grew by 8.4% in the reporting period - from 374.0 thousand tonnes in the nine months 2008 to 405.5 thousand tonnes for the nine months 2009.
Shorter storage time of cargoes and smaller volumes of container stuffing, unstuffing, and inspection services also reduced revenues by USD 1.4 million in the reporting period versus comparable period last year.
Operating expenses
According to the IFRS financial statements, the operating expenses (cost of sales + selling, general and administrative expenses - further "operating expenses") totaled USD 208.6 million in the nine months of 2009 versus USD 315.1 million in the same period of 2008.
Operating expenses dropped by USD 26.9 million* in the reporting period as a result of declining bunkering fuel costs in purchase and resale operations.
A decrease in depreciation charge was another factor that reduced operating expenses by USD 44.1 million*. A higher depreciation charge was formed in 2008 by reassessment of the useful lives of certain fixed assets due to the completion of the significant part of the investment program.
Further decrease of operating expenses in dollar terms was conditioned by the fluctuations of the exchange rate of the Russian ruble (functional currency) versus US dollar (presentation currency). Higher Ruble rate over the nine months of 2008 resulted in higher operating expenses dollar-wise in the respective period, while Ruble devaluation during nine months of 2009 lead to a decrease in the operating expenses in dollar value.
Adjusted EBITDA
To ensure the comparability of data for 2008 and 2009, the calculation of EBITDA for both periods was adjusted to the exchange rate differences on assets and liabilities nominated in foreign currency, which resulted from Russian ruble versus US dollar exchange rate fluctuations. Hence, the adjusted EBITDA for the nine months of 2009 amounted to USD 354.0 million* versus USD 266.3 million* in the nine months of 2008.
Growth of cargo traffic and changes in the cargo mix led to USD 44.0 million* increase in adjusted EBITDA in the nine months of 2009 compared to the same period of 2008.
Declining USD prices of bunkering fuel resulted in a moderate decrease of adjusted EBITDA by USD 4.4 million*. Meanwhile changes in the volume of additional port services reduced adjusted EBITDA for the nine months of 2009 only by USD 0.9 million*.
Optimization of operating expenses, as well as Russian ruble devaluation effect resulted in growth of adjusted EBITDA by USD 49.0 million* in the nine months of 2009.
Credit Burden and Net Debt
As of 30 September 2009, the NCSP Group's debt amounted to USD 465.4 million, with the current portion of long-term debt to be repaid within 12 months of USD 137.3 million. The current portion of long-term debt was expected to increase in view of the USD 118 million loan scheduled to mature in the third quarter of 2010. NCSP Group did not attract new debt or refinanced any of the existing loans during the reporting period.
As of reporting date, the Group's net debt totaled USD 196.2 million*, which takes into account the company's monetary assets:
cash and cash equivalents - USD 104.6 million;
deposits with maturities from three months to twelve months - USD 148.2 million;
promissory notes - USD 16.5 million.
Thus, the ratio of the net debt to the annualized adjusted EBITDA dropped to 0.42* in the nine months of 2009.
According to the IFRS financial statements, the average effective rate on borrowings in the reporting period was 6.71 percent versus 7.02 percent as of 31 December 2008.
About NCSP Group
Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port is the largest Russian port operator in terms of cargo turnover. Group's consolidated cargo turnover in 2008 totaled 81.6 million tonnes. Consolidated revenue to IFRS for the 2008 totaled $653.777 million.
NCSP shares are traded on Russia's RTS and MICEX exchanges (NMTP) and on the London Stock Exchange (NCSP) in the form of GDRs (1 GDR representing 75 shares).
NCSP Group includes the following stevedore companies: PJSC NCSP, PJSC Novorossiysk Grain Terminal, OJSC Novorossiysk Ship Repair Yard, PJSC NCSP Fleet, OJSC Novoroslesexport, OJSC IPP, and Baltic Stevedore Company Ltd.
For more information please contact:
Tel.: +7 (495) 783-5434; [email protected]
Related Shares:
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