Vopak’s net profit falls 10% Y/Y in 2013

Feb 28, 2014 - Dutch oil storage firm Royal Vopak (AMS:VPK) said Friday its net profit decreased by 10% year-on-year to EUR 312 million (USD 427m) in 2013.

The company plans to pay a dividend of EUR 0.90 per share, compared with EUR 0.88 in 2012.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), excluding exceptional items, came in at EUR 753.1 million, compared with EUR 768.4 million a year earlier, thus slightly exceeding the target of EUR 750 million. Increasing competition through capacity expansion, setbacks in construction projects, negative currency effects and higher pension costs weighed on the result.

Revenue decreased by 1% to EUR 1.3 billion due to negative currency effects and lower demand for crude oil, gasoil and biofuel in the Netherlands, and a lower occupancy rate in Los Angeles.

Occupancy rate on the company's storage facilities decreased to 88% from 91%.

Projects under development are expected to add 6.5 million cu m (229.5m cu ft) of storage capacity in the years through 2016, bringing the total to 37 million cu m.

The oil storage firm said it was unlikely to achieve its EBITDA target of EUR 1 billion by 2016 since no major growth projects were announced in the last 18 months. Vopak will provide more details on this target in the second half of 2014.

The company also believes it would be challenging to reach this year the record EBITDA, excluding one-offs, of EUR 768 million from 2012. What is more, increased write-downs will possibly continue to weigh on earnings per share (EPS).

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.370)

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