Highlights for the first half year of 2014 -excluding exceptional items- :

• EBITDA -excluding exceptional items- decreased by 5% to EUR 367 million (HY1 2013: EUR 385 million). Adjusted for adverse currency translation effects of EUR 14 million and a number of non-recurring items recognized in HY1 2013 of EUR 11.5 million, the EBITDA increased by EUR 7.9 million.
• EBIT -excluding exceptional items- decreased by 10% to EUR 251 million (HY1 2013: EUR 280 million). Adjusted for adverse currency effects (EUR 11 million) the decrease was 6%, mainly due to higher depreciation costs.
• Net profit attributable to holders of ordinary shares -excluding exceptional items- decreased by 15% to EUR 138 million (HY1 2013: EUR 163 million).
• The senior net debt : EBITDA ratio was 2.92 on 30 June 2014 (31 December 2013: 2.53).
• During the first half year of 2014, storage capacity (including 100% for joint ventures and associates) increased by 1.6 million cbm to a total of 32.1 million cbm.

Outlook -excluding exceptional items- :

• No material changes in our business climate are expected during the second half of the year and as a result we anticipate our EBITDA -excluding exceptional items- for the year 2014 will exceed EUR 700 million, versus the earlier indicated decline of 5% to 10% of the 2013 EBITDA (EUR 753 million).
• Vopak expects, on the basis of current market insights, to realize an EBITDA -excluding exceptional items- exceeding the 2012 results of EUR 768 million latest in 2016.
• Projects under development add 6.3 million cbm of storage capacity in the years up to and including 2017. The total investment for Vopak and partners in expansion projects is approximately EUR 1.7 billion, of which Vopak’s total remaining cash spend is approximately EUR 0.3 billion.

Business highlights:

• In HY1 2014, Group operating profit before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) -excluding exceptional items- decreased by EUR 18.0 million or 5% to EUR 366.5 million from EUR 384.5 million in HY1 2013. Adjusted for adverse currency translation effects of EUR 14.4 million, the decrease of the EBITDA -excluding exceptional items- was 1%, mainly due to lower joint venture and operating results in the EMEA region. The occupancy rate was on the same level as in HY1 2013 (88%).
• On 15 January 2014, Vopak announced the signing of a 15-year operating contract by JTC Corporation with Banyan Caverns Storage Services Pte Ltd, a consortium formed by Vopak Terminals Singapore (45%), Geostock SAS (35%) and Jurong Consultants Pte Ltd (20%) for the first phase of Jurong Rock Caverns (JRC) in Jurong Island, Singapore.
• On 10 March 2014, Vopak announced it has signed an Equity Transfer Agreement with Xianglu Petrochemical (Zhangzhou) Co., Ltd. (Xianglu) in Fujian province, China. The agreement comprises Vopak’s acquisition of a 30% equity interest in Zhangzhou Gulei Haiteng Jetty Investment Management Company Limited (Haiteng). The closing of this acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and registrations and is expected to be finalized in Q3 2014.
• On 27 March 2014, Vopak announced the acquisition of Canterm Canadian terminals Inc., a company with two distribution terminals for the storage and handling of refined products in Montreal and Quebec City, Canada. With the acquisition, Vopak Canada’s storage capacity increased with 509,000 cbm to 712,000 cbm, while strengthening Vopak’s presence in all strategic distribution market locations in eastern Canada.
• On 16 April 2014, Vopak announced that Vopak E.O.S., the Estonian joint venture has informed its stakeholders by a press release about the initiative to re-align the organization as a response to changes of the marketplace over the last few years as Vopak E.O.S. is affected by a difficult business environment.
• A dividend of EUR 0.90 in cash per ordinary share, which represented an increase of 2% compared to the EUR 0.88 in prior year, has been paid after approval by the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held on 23 April 2014.
• On 26 June 2014, Pengerang Independent Terminals Sdn Bhd (PITSB), an independent oil storage terminal located within the Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex and built on 150 acres of reclaimed sea-bed land, has officially begun operations following the successful start-up and commissioning of Phase 1A (432,000 cbm) in April this year.

Storage Capacity developments
Since the end of December 2013, worldwide capacity has increased by 1.6 million cbm to a total of 32.1 million cbm as per the end of June 2014. New capacity was commissioned at, amongst others, Vlaardingen (Netherlands) and Caojing, Zhangjiagang, and Lanshan (all in China). In Pengerang (Malaysia) the first phase of a new terminal was commissioned, dedicated to the storage of oil products. The joint service company Banyan Cavern Storage Services started the operation of 480,000 cbm for the storage of oil products. The acquisition of Montreal East and Quebec terminals in Canada was completed on 27 March 2014 and the integration process is proceeding according to plan.