Pjsc Novor. S Regulatory News (NCSP)

21 Jan 2009 07:59



NCSP Operating Results 2008:

a Successful Investment Program and 2.8% Increase in Cargo Traffic

21 January 2009

PJSC Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (LSE: NCSP, RTS and MICEX: NMTP) announces its consolidated operating results for 2008. Cargo turnover of the Group grew to 81.6 million tonnes - by 2.8% or by 2.2 million tonnes from 2007.

Igor Vilinov, General Director of PJSC NCSP commented on the operating results, saying: «New handling facilities launched under the Group's investment program in 2008 gave the company strong impulse for growth, enabling us to counterbalance the downward economic trends and attain moderate growth in overall cargo turnover. Effective operation of the new terminals as they gradually reach full capacity will allow us to continue the investment program and stabilize operating indicators in the future, despite the apparent slowdown in the industry in 2009. »

Cargo Turnover Dynamics in 2008

Container traffic still leads the growth, reaching 381 000 TEU which is up 46% or 120,000 TEU from 2007. Container handling at PJSC NCSP and Baltic Stevedoring Company dropped in December 2008 due to seasonal and macroeconomic factors, resulting in a decrease in overall container handling of the Group as compared to November 2008. Nonetheless, total container handling in December was up 4% year-on-year. On the other hand, container throughput at the new OJSC Novoroslesexport terminal remained stable in December 2008 as compared to previous month. The share of containers in total NCSP cargo turnover grew to 6.5% from 4.6% in 2007.

Handling of petroleum products grew to 11.2 million tonnes, up 21.3% or 2 million tonnes from 2007, compensating a drop in crude oil handling from 44.3 million tonnes in 2007 to 42.6 million tonnes in 2008 (down by 1.7 million tonnes). The share of petroleum products in total cargo turnover grew from 11.6% to 13.7%. From November to December 2008 petroleum products handling grew even faster - by 25.6%.

Grain handling in 2008 totaled 6.31 million tonnes, which exceeds the record figures of 2007 by 8.76% or 0.51 million tonnes. Most of that, or 5.27 million tonnes, was handled in the second half of the year when the Novorossiysk Grain Terminal reached full capacity. Monthly grain handling grew by 15% from November to December 2008 alone.

Handling of ferrous metals grew by 5.5% in 2008 from 2007 to 8.5 million tonnes. The company increased handling of pig iron by 22.2% last year, mostly during the last two months of the year, including an increase of 34% from November to December 2008.

Cement handling in 2008 was lower than anticipated due to change of trends in the construction industry, but was up 0.6 million tonnes from 2007 due to the handling of imported cement.

The drop in handling of timber cargo in 2008 (by 126,000 tonnes from 2007) was due to a partial switch to use of containers for timber exports, which is a positive factor.

Handling of iron ore, sugar, scrap metal, non-ferrous metals, mineral fertilizers, vegetable oils and UAN (urea-ammonium nitrate) also dropped in 2008 by some 1.0 million tonnes combined.

  PJSC NCSP Operating Results for 12 Months 2008 

For the purposes of this table TEU is converted into tonnes based on a ratio of 14 tonnes per TEU. This is indicative and based on the assumptions that our company considered justified. Any discrepancy in the figures here with an actual weight of container cargo in tonnes does not have any impact on our earnings and EBITDA, since tariffs are calculated per TEU and not by weight.

NCSP Development in 2008

In 2008 NCSP Group was developing along two key lines, namely by building and launching into operation new cargo terminals and by consolidating its holdings in subsidiary stevedoring companies.

The key events in the framework of the Group's handling capacity expansion included the launch of the new container terminal at OJSC Novoroslesexport, bringing the OJSC IPP bunkering terminal and the new grain terminal at PJSC Novorossiysk Grain Terminal to full capacity, the purchase of two Liebherr LHM 400 cranes for Baltic Stevedoring Company, and the launch of the new light petroleum products terminal at PJSC IPP.

Several deals were completed as part of corporate development and consolidation of subsidiaries, including the purchase of a 50% stake in Baltic Stevedoring Company that increased ownership to 100%, and the purchase of 24.91% of OJSC IPP to increase ownership to 97.56%.

About PJSC NCSP

PJSC Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port is the largest Russian port operator in terms of cargo turnover. NCSP consolidated cargo turnover for 2007 totaled 79.4 million tonnes, which is some 97% of cargo handled at the port of Novorossiysk (according to the Association of Sea Ports). NCSP shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange (NCSP) and Russia's RTS and MICEX exchanges (NMTP). Consolidated revenue to IFRS for the 9 months of 2008 totaled $487.560 million, EBITDA - $251.093 million, net profit - $106.335 million. 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 Stevedoring Company Ltd.

For more information please contact:Tel.: +7 (495) 783-5434IR@nmtp.info