Abu Dhabi: «The Gulf»
The Abu Dhabi Ports Group achieved a net profit of 606 million dirhams in the first half, a growth of 49%, while revenues rose 25% to 2.28 billion dirhams.
The group announced a remarkable increase in its quarterly revenues by 35% on an annual basis to reach 1.24 billion dirhams in the second quarter of 2022, recording record growth results for the first half of the year. Underperforming the digital sector.
The performance of the port sector’s revenues declined during the second quarter due to the negative impact resulting from the contract for the supply of unrefined sand for the period from March to October 2021. However, on a similar basis, the port sector’s revenues achieved a growth of 20% on an annual basis during the second quarter of 2022 .
Aramex Contribution
The growth of the group’s net profit accelerated to 59% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2022 to reach AED 300 million, despite the increase in depreciation expenses, higher financing costs from the ongoing investment program, in addition to the increase in provisions for expected credit losses.
A 22.32% stake in Aramex, which was transferred to Abu Dhabi Ports Group in January 2022, contributed AED 12 million to EBITDA and net profit for the second quarter of 2022 (AED 23 million for the first half of 2022).
Capital expenditures
The consolidated capital expenditures of the group amounted to 2.6 billion dirhams in the first half of 2022 compared to 1.1 billion dirhams in the first half of 2021. These capital expenditures were mainly distributed, and in order of importance, to the marine sector (expansion of the fleet of ships) and the port sector (expansion of Khalifa Port Connecting to the Etihad Rail network), and the economic cities and free zones sector (establishing new warehouses, expanding the gas network, and investing additional lands in infrastructure projects).
The Abu Dhabi Ports Group maintains a strong capital structure in addition to a good liquidity and investment rating, in order to keep pace with its future growth. The total debt of the group in the second quarter of 2022 amounted to about 3.6 billion dirhams in the form of 10-year bonds that were issued under the Euro Medium Term Bond Program (EMTN) in 2021, while the cash balance amounted to 1.8 billion dirhams, providing a net leverage of 0.9 double. The group has a well-managed debt maturity history with sufficient liquidity, and the $1 billion consolidated revolving credit facility that was allocated in cooperation with a consortium of local and international banks in 2021 remained unused. The Group continues to adopt a strategy that aims to employ bonds as the main mechanism for long-term financing, while continuing to rely on the revolving credit facility as a reserve source of liquidity.
Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamsi, Managing Director and CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports Group, said: “The group’s business sectors succeeded in overcoming the significant challenges faced by the supply chain last year, while its new projects, improving services and diversification strategy into new business areas that it pursued contributed to achieving tangible positive results.”
He added: “The group continued to invest heavily to ensure future growth, and was keen to take advantage of the current good situation, which prevails in the Gulf region in general and in the country in particular, as the significant rise in oil prices helped accelerate economic growth in the country and supported the non-oil economy as well. It allowed the group to be one of the main beneficiaries of Abu Dhabi’s industrial strategy, which aims to double the size of the manufacturing sector to reach 172 billion dirhams by 2031.”