Cosco Shipping Ports (CSP) saw 2016 net profit drop by 43% to $247m from $429.3m previously on almost flat revenue, which saw a 1.1% rise to $556.4m from $550.2m previously.
The company said in a stock market announcement that “the sluggish growth in the global economy and ports industry, as well as the decrease in China’s foreign trade compared with last year, pressured the growth of the terminals business of the group”. It noted also that gross profit margin decreased by 0.4 percentage points to 35.8% from 36.2% in 2015 due to the increase in cost of sales.
Profit from the terminals business fell 15% to $242.9m from $286.6m in the previous corresponding period, partly due to the provision for impairment loss recognised for Qinhuangdao Port of $19.8m, CSP said. It noted that excluding the provisions profit from the terminals business only fell 8% to $262.7m.
For 2016, total throughput of the group’s container terminals rose 5.1% to 95.1m teu from from 90.5m teu previously.
Total equity throughput of the group’s container terminals increased by 5% year-on-year to 29.5m teu from 28.1m teu in 2015.
Of this, 10m teu were handled by CSP’s subsidiaries, accounting for 34%, while 19.4m teu were handled by its non-subsidiaries, accounting for 66%.
Looking ahead, CSP believes “effective implementation of its strategies will improve the quality of its terminal assets and management, which will support sustainable business development and improve overall profitability of the company”.
The group still strives to meet its five-year goals of 50% growth in total assets, 60% growth on equity throughput and to double its net profit from continuing operations by 2021, CSP concluded.
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