The group’s operating profit rose by 20% in the first quarter to EUR 109.6 million (Q1 2009: € 91.2million). Excluding exceptional items, the group’s operating profit rose by 28% to € 109.7 million (Q1 2009: € 85.6 million). All divisions contributed to this increase, which results from a
combination of improved market circumstances, storage capacity expansions and efficiency improvement programs. In a twelve months period worldwide capacity increased by 1.0 million cbm from 27.4 million cbm as per the end of March 2009 to 28.4 million cbm per the end of March 2010.
Capacity added during and after the first quarter of 2009 has a positive contribution when comparing the results of the first quarter of 2009 to results of the first quarter of 2010.
The occupancy rate was 93% in the first quarter of 2010. This is a slight decrease compared to the occupancy in the first quarter of 2009 (95%). In the first quarter of 2010 we had an increased outage of tanks in certain locations as a result of an intensified tank inspection program, as well as lower initial
occupancy rates for some of the recently commissioned new tank capacity for storage of chemical and biofuels products in Asia and Europe.