Peel hails resilience of Ports arm in downturn
THE ports business operated by North West property giant Peel Holdings grew sales and earnings in the year to the end of March, despite the recession.
Accounts for Peel Ports Shareholder FinanceCo, the parent company of the Port of Liverpool, the Manchester Ship Canal, Clydeport in Scotland and a number of other ports in the UK and Ireland reveal a 5.9% hike in turnover to £399m.
Despite a 6.2% fall in tonnage to 60.1 m, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) was up 7.3% to £122.4m.
Bottom-line profits in the year to the end of March were slightly down at £10.6m, against £11.4m last year after the 2008 figures were boosted by an £8m profit on the sale of an interest in a joint venture.
Staff numbers in the year fell from 2,065 to 1,674, the accounts revealed. The figures reveal that the business holds more than £1.1bn of debt, which is due to a number of lenders between December 2013 and September 2046.
Director Alan Barr says in the statement: “Despite the downturn in the global economic environment the results for the year have remained strong, which is attributed to the benefit of a strong and diverse portfolio of customers and service provision.
“Although several European ports have been hit by the decline in container volumes, Peel Ports Group is not as reliant in container handling.”
He said the group was showing “greater resilience” than many of its peers in the downturn, and said he expects trading conditions to remain the same for the next year, with growth returning after this time.
