For Vopak, the year 2008 has evolved according to the pusued objectives for growth. The company has increased the global storage capacity with 23% to around 27 million cubic meter, whereby a continued high occupancy rate has been realized. The financial statements have not yet been assembled in detail and have not yet been verified by the auditor. The expected group operating profit for 2008, excluding exceptional items, amounts to around EUR 318 million (2007: EUR 272.9 million), which is fully aligned with the earlier communicated outlook for the 2008 group operating profit excluding exceptional items to be at least EUR 310 million.
Besides the earlier reported exceptional gains Vopak will include some exceptional losses in the financial statement of the fourth quarter of 2008, which are among other caused by impairments of activities that are not related to tank storage. According expectation, this leads to a group operating profit, including exceptional items, of around EUR 320 million.
Final results for the year 2008 will be published on 13 March 2009 before opening of the Amsterdam stock exchange, by means of a press release.
Profile of Vopak
Royal Vopak is the world's largest independent tank terminal operator specialising in the storage and handling of liquid and gaseous chemical and oil products. On request, Vopak can provide complementary logistics services for customers at its terminals. Vopak operates 80 terminals with a storage capacity of around 27 million cbm in 32 countries. The terminals are strategically located for users and the major shipping routes. The majority of its customers are companies operating in the chemical and oil industries, for which Vopak stores a large variety of products destined for a wide range of industries.