ICTSI eyes more foreign acquisitions

MANILA, Philippines - Against a backdrop of continuing challenges to global financial stability, International Container Terminal Services Inc.(ICTSI) said it is cautiously optimistic about its prospects this year and remains on the lookout for new acquisitions.

On the sidelines of the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting yesterday, ICTSI chairman and president Enrique K. Razon said the company is looking at further shoring up its global presence, targeting ports in Africa, Middle East and Latin America.

Razon said he is confident that their terminals, diversely spread out in both advanced and emerging markets, will continue to provide stable cash flow for the group.

As of end 2011, ICTSI’s portfolio has extended to 23 terminals in 17 countries with six ports in the Philippines, and one terminal each in Indonesia, Brunei, India, China, Japan, United States, Ecuador, Brazil, Poland, Georgia, Croatia, Syria and Madagascar. It also has ongoing port development projects in Mexico, Colombia and Argentina.

ICTSI earlier disclosed it had allocated $550 million for capital spending this year, more than double what it spent in 2011.

About $345 million of the budget will go to greenfield projects in Argentina, Mexico and Colombia.

The balance will be used to partly fund the acquisition of a 35 percent stake in Pakistan International Container Terminal Ltd., equivalent to around $150 million.

PICT is a container cargo terminal located at Karachi Port in Pakistan with a maximum handling capacity of 750,000 twenty-foot equivalent container units.

Notwithstanding the tough global business environment, ICTSI reported a 33-percent jump in net profit last year to $130.5 million on the back of higher revenues and reduced financing charges.The income growth was also boosted by a one-time gain on the sale of 16.79 percent in Portek International Ltd.

Revenues from port operations grew 26 percent to $664.8 million from $527.1 million while EBITDA rose 14 percent to $281.4 million.