27 April 2010 02:00

Highlights first quarter 2010:

  • First quarter group operating profit excluding exceptional items rises 28% to EUR 109.7 million (Q1 2009: EUR 85.6 million).

Outlook:

  • Projects under construction will add 3.6 million cubic meters (cbm) of storage capacity in the years 2010, 2011 and 2012. The total investment for Vopak and partners in these projects involves capital expenditure of some EUR 1.7 billion, of which Vopak’s total remaining cash spend will be some EUR 0.3 billion.
  • For 2010 Vopak expects group operating profit before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of at least EUR 560 million. Although the expected EBITDA growth will contribute positively to the Earnings Per Share (EPS) development in 2010, the completed long-term financing activities in 2009 will weigh on the EPS development due to the increase in outstanding shares and higher financing costs.
  • Based on its growth strategy Vopak is well positioned to realize a group operating profit before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) between EUR 625-700 million in 2012.

John Paul Broeders, Chairman of the Executive Board of Royal Vopak:
“Our tank terminals fulfill a strategic role in the supply chains of our customers. Our strategically located tank terminal infrastructure supports the physical transportation of the required bulk liquid products to the right markets. The healthy demand for tank storage services, our capacity expansions and efficiency improvement programs led to an increased EBITDA of EUR 145 million in the first quarter of 2010. We experience a robust demand for oil storage services, based on the world-wide imbalances between production and consumption and the increasing number of specifications of oil products. Following higher output of the chemical industry, the global flows of chemical products revived from the sharp drop early last year. Besides the already encouraging market circumstances in Asia, we also notice the first signs of structural recovery of the European chemicals market.

Our total worldwide storage capacity has increased to 28.4 million cubic meters. The execution of the expansion plans that are currently under construction is progressing well. Furthermore, a capacity expansion of 606,000 cubic meters in Fujairah was recently announced, while our projects pipeline remains encouraging.”