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LONDON (Alliance News) - Irish Continental Group PLC Thursday reported a fall in profit for the "seasonally less profitable" first half of the year, mainly due to the start-up costs of operating its recently-chartered Epsilon ferry on the Dublin to Cherbourg and Dublin to Holyhead routes.
The maritime transport group posted pretax profit of EUR2.7 million for the six months ended June 30, down from EUR3.3 million a year earlier, even though revenue rose to EUR130.7 million from EUR120.9 million, helped by the introduction of the new vessel Epsilon.
Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation were EUR14.0 million, compared with EUR15.8 million a year earlier, although the figure was up EUR1.2 million on the year excluding the costs of introducing Epsilon.
Irish Continental said the introduction of the new Epsilon ship on the Dublin-Holyhead and Dublin-Cherbourg routes allowed the group to grow both its freight and tourism businesses substantially.
Volume in the RoRo freight business rose 19% on a year earlier, the biggest increase across the group, while volumes at Port Lifts were up 7.3%.
Overall, the company carried 0.8% more passengers and 5.9% more cars in the first half compared with a year earlier.
Fuel costs in the ferries division rose 17%, although when Epsilon is excluded, fuel costs decreased by around EUR700,000.
Revenue for the ferries division rose to EUR77.7 million, from EUR69.4 million a year earlier.
Container and terminal division revenue rose 3% to EUR53.7 million, from EUR52.2 million. Total containers shipped rose to 142,700 twenty-foot equivalent units, from 140,600 twenty-foot equivalent units.
Net debt at the end of the period amounted to EUR71.9 million compared with EUR93.4 million at the end of December.
On the back of its performance the company increased its interim dividend to 3.465 cents from 3.3 cents a year earlier.
The stock was quoted up 1.8% at EUR2.87 Thursday afternoon.
By Anthony Tshibangu; anthonytshibangu@alliancenews.com; @AnthonyAllNews
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