Highlights for 2007:
- Net profit attributable to holders of ordinary shares increased by 40% to EUR 181.1 million (2006: EUR 129.4 million) and the earnings per ordinary share excluding exceptional items was up 34% to EUR 2.62 (2006: EUR 1.96).
- Vopak added 878,000 cubic meter (cbm) of storage capacity to its global network in 2007 and divested 268,100 cbm. There is 2.7 million cbm storage capacity under construction and in addition Vopak actively pursues new real growth plans.
- To finance its growth, Vopak entered into over EUR 1.4 billion of new long-term credit facilities in 2007.
- The proposed dividend is EUR 0.95 per ordinary share, in cash, an increase of 27% (2006: EUR 0.75).
Outlook:
- Demand for storage services continues to be high in all markets, with no indications that this trend will change in the next few years. Based on the current projects under construction, Vopak will add more than 2.7 million cbm of storage capacity around the world in the next two years, the majority of these projects will start to contribute to the profitability during 2009. If the Vopak Bahamas Terminal project and the joint venture in Estonia are concluded successfully, worldwide capacity will grow to more than 28 million cbm.
- Vopak expects Group operating profit excluding exceptional items to increase around 10% in 2008 (2007: EUR 272.9 million). As a result of the commissioning of the current expansion projects Vopak expects to achieve its guidance for 2011 of group operating profit before depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of EUR 475-550 million per year one or two years earlier.
- The projects under construction, including the Gate terminal project, involve overall capital expenditure of about EUR 1.6 billion; this means total net capital expenditure for Vopak of around EUR 450 million in the coming years.
John Paul Broeders, Chairman of the Executive Board of Royal Vopak:
“In 2007, we pursued our extensive growth program consistently, and successfully developed the strategic focus on growth, customer focus and operational efficiency. Around the world, we made enormous efforts and worked resolutely on our large-scale expansion program and to implement our strategic initiatives. This has resulted in an additional 878,000 cbm of storage capacity coming on stream, our entry into the growing LNG market using our trusted business model and significant efficiency improvements.The number of expansion projects under development has been further increased. We are already enjoying the first benefits of the course we started on in 2006 as is among other shown by the increase in the results in the past year. Consequently, we are completely confident that we will achieve our long-term objectives sooner by following that course.”