LONDON (Alliance News) - Global Ports Holding PLC on Monday said it sunk to 2017 loss in its first set of annual results since listing in London in May last year, but expects single-digit growth in revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation in 2018.
The independent cruise port operator sunk to a pretax loss of USD10.5 million from a profit of USD5.3 million the prior year, hit by currency translation to the dollar from the euro and the costs of its initial public offering.
Operating profit fell 48% to USD10.9 million from USD20.9 million in 2016, due to the one-off costs associated with 2017 IPO and higher amortisation expenses in relation to port operating rights.
In May last year, Global Ports started to trading on the London Stock Exchange's Main Market, after raising GBP154.5 million in its IPO.
Global Ports Chairman and Co-Founder Mehmet Kutman said: "In May 2017 we listed on the London Stock Exchange. Despite the geopolitical challenges in Turkey since then, we have been able to deliver stable revenues and underlying profits, achieve strong operating cash flow and attractive dividends. Operating profit was down year-on-year mainly reflecting the costs of the IPO. Delivering shareholder value remains a key priority for the group as we look to the year ahead."
The company's revenue was up 1.3% to USD116.4 million from USD114.9 million the year before. Adjusted Ebitda also rose 0.8% to USD75.3 million from USD75.9 million year-on-year.
Although Cruise revenue was down 6.3% to USD50.3 million from USD53.7 million in 2016, it was more than offset by Commercial revenue, which grew 7.9% to USD66.1 million from USD61.2 million.
The drop in Cruise revenue was a result of political events in Turkish cruise ports, from which revenue was down 49%. However, the company said that the fourth quarter of 2017 enjoyed positive revenue growth of 6.6% from Turkish cruise ports. Non-Turkish cruise ports revenue was up 9.9% for all of 2017.
Global Ports proposed a total dividend for 2017 of 41.7 pence per share and said it will pay an additional special dividend of 20.1p per share.
Global Ports Chief Executive Officer said: "Our 2017 financial performance reflects the importance of our diversified business, with robust contributions from our commercial operations and strong performance in our cruise ports outside Turkey, where the geopolitical situation continues to be challenging. We are making progress with our strategy set out at the IPO to expand our global footprint of cruise ports, also reducing the significance of Turkey on our overall business. M&A discussions both in and outside Europe are progressing well and we have strengthened our global team as we pursue the next phase of growth. We feel good about 2018 as it starts growing again."
The stock was up 9.0% at 430.63p per share.
Global Ports (GPH)