DP World, one of the world’s largest ports operator, posted
a near four-fold increase in its first-half profit as it booked a $436m gain
from the sale of its Australian port operations last year.
First half profits, including the sale, were $705m compared
with $177m in the same period in 2010, DP World said in a statement on
Thursday.
The world’s third-largest port operator sold 75 percent of
its Australian port operations for $1.5 billion last year, and its shares began
trading on the London Stock Exchange in June.
Excluding the gain from sale, profits stood at $246m,
compared with $164m for the same period last year, the company said. Gross
volumes in the first half of the year climbed to 26.2 million TEU or
twenty-foot equivalent container units.
First-half revenues increased 3 percent to $1.5bn, DP World,
whose shares began trading on the London stock exchange in June, said.
The company, one of the more profitable assets of debt-laden
Dubai World , said it was well-positioned to meet its $3bn upcoming debt maturity
in October 2012. It had $4.1bn in cash at the end of June 30, 2011.
DP World bought controlling interest in two port services
firms in Suriname last month for an undisclosed amount.
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