Global trade enabler DP World today announces strong financial results for the twelve months ending 31 December 2017. The company delivered earnings in excess of $1 billion and above 50% EBITDA margin for the full year.
Revenue grew 13.2% and adjusted EBITDA increased 9.1% with adjusted EBITDA margin of 52.4%, delivering profit attributable to owners of the Company, before separately disclosed items of $1,209 million, up 7.3%, and EPS of 145.6 US cents. On a like-for-like basis, revenue grew 6.0%, adjusted EBITDA increased by 8.0% with adjusted EBITDA margin of 53.2%, and earnings attributable to owners of the Company increased 15.1%.
DP World Group Chairman and CEO, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, commented, “We are pleased to announce another set of strong financial results in 2017, as we again delivered earnings in excess of $1 billion and above 50% EBITDA margin for the full year. On a like-for-like basis, our earnings grew at 15.1% ahead of revenue growth of 6.0% and EBITDA growth of 8.0%. Encouragingly, our volumes have continued to grow ahead of the market with gross volumes growing 10.1% year-on-year, ahead of Drewry Maritime’s full year market estimate 8 of 6.0%. Our portfolio has seen strong performance across all three regions benefitting from the improved trading environment and market share gains.
“In recent years, we have leveraged on our in-house expertise to extend our core business into port-related, maritime, transportation and logistics sectors with the objective of diversifying our revenue base and connecting directly with the owners of cargo and aggregators of demand to remove inefficiencies in trade, improve the quality of our earnings and drive returns. Going forward, we expect this trend to continue as we seek opportunities in complementary sectors in the global supply chain and also make use of new technology and data solutions to provide better service to our customers.
“In 2017, we invested $1,090 million of capital expenditure across our portfolio in markets with strong demand and supply dynamics, and we will maintain capital expenditure discipline by bringing capacity in line with demand.
“The Board of DP World recommends increasing the dividend by 7.9% to $340.3 million at 41.0 US cents per share. The Board is confident of the Company’s ability to continue to generate cash and support our future growth whilst maintaining a consistent dividend payout.
“Our significant cash generation and investment partnerships, leave us with a strong balance sheet and flexibility to capitalise on the significant growth opportunities in the industry and deliver enhanced shareholder value over the long term.
“We have made an encouraging start to the year with current trading in line with expectations. As we look ahead into 2018, geopolitical headwinds in some regions pose a challenge but we expect to continue to grow ahead of the market and see increased contributions from our recent investments.”
