April 21, 2016 [OPIS] - Vopak, a tank storage provider for the oil and chemical industry, boosted profits 5% in the first quarter as demand for storage grew, but revenues were flat after it trimmed global storage capacity.
The Netherlands-based group saw operating profit, before one-off items, rise to 150.4 million euros in the first three months of the year, up from 143.3 million euros year earlier.
Favorable economics for storing crude and oil products lifted Vopak’s occupancy tank rate to 94% worldwide, up from 91% a year earlier. The figure rose to 96% in the storage company’s main hub in the Netherlands.
But the company’s revenues were little changed at 347.9 million euros, partly by cutting storage capacity 600,000 cubic meters to 33.7 million compared to the end of 2015.
Vopak sold its U.K assets to Navigator Terminals, a joint venture by Macquarie capital and Greenergy, in the first quarter for 410 million euros. This helped boost operating profit including one-off items to 432.4 million euros.
Vopak operates 71 terminals in 25 countries, but around a third of its revenues are generated from its tanks around the mouth of the Rhine.
Revenues in the Netherlands rose to 126.4 million euros in the first quarter, up from 117.6 million euros a year earlier.
But they fell in the rest of Europe, Middle East and Africa, slipping to 58.5 million euros from 68.3 million euros in the first quarter of 2015.
Revenues were also down slightly in Asia to 94.8 million euros, and were little changed in North and South America at 68 million euros.
Vopak plans to add another 4.1 million cubic meters of storage capacity to its worldwide network by 2019.
