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DP World has enjoyed a strong first six months of 2018 with revenue increasing by 14.4% to US$2.6bn, supported by container volume growth and the impact of new acquisitions including Drydocks World LLC (Drydocks), Dubai Maritime City (DMC) and Cosmos Agencia Marítima (CAM).
Like-for-like revenue increased by 3.0% driven by a 4.6% increase in total containerised revenue.
Profit dropped 2.1% to US$593m on a reported basis owing to the controversial deconsolidation of Doraleh Container Terminal (DCT) caused by a dispute with the Djibouti government, as well as the consolidation of DP World Santos, which remains in ramp up stage. However, profit grew by 5.2% on a like-for-like basis.
Capital expenditure totalled US$439m invested across the portfolio during the first half of the year with a figure of US$1.4bn expected for the whole of 2018.
Investments are planned into the UAE, Posorja (Ecuador), Berbera (Somaliland), Sokhna (Egypt) and London Gateway (UK).
DP World Group Chairman and CEO, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, said: “This robust performance has been delivered in an uncertain trade environment, once again highlighting our operational excellence and the resilience of our portfolio.”
The acquisition of Drydocks, which closed in the beginning of 2018, is performing in line with DP World’s expectations and providing an increased contribution to revenue.
In the first half of the year, non-containerised revenue accounted for approximately 37% of total revenue, up from 31% in the equivalent period of 2017.
The Dubai-based company has continued to invest in complementary sectors and acquired three more assets – the integrated multimodal logistics players Continental Warehousing Corporation (CWC) in India, Cosmos Agencia Marítima in Peru, and the shortsea carrier Unifeeder Group in Denmark.
The firm has also signed a 20 year concession to build and operate a modern logistics hub outside of Bamako, the capital and largest city of the Republic of Mali, and has won a 30 year concession to manage and develop a greenfield port project at Banana in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Regarding the investments, Sulayem stated: “These acquisitions offer strong growth opportunities and enhance DP World’s presence in the global supply chain as we continue to diversify our revenue base and look at opportunities to connect directly with the owners of cargo and aggregators of demand.
“Going forward, we aim to integrate our new acquisitions and we continue to extend our core business into port-related, maritime, transportation and logistics sectors with the objective of removing inefficiencies in global trade, improving the quality of our earnings and driving returns.”