April 20, 2018 [Reuters] - Dutch oil and chemical storage company Vopak reported a 6 percent drop in first-quarter core earnings, but still beat forecasts and said it sees the potential to significantly improve its performance next year.
Vopak is adding 3.1 million cubic metres of new capacity and said on Wednesday it will expand its main Botlek terminal in the Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to lift capacity at the terminal by 8 percent.
Since last year, Vopak has expanded in Southeast Asia, launching new bunkering services at its Sebarok oil terminal in Singapore and in Indonesia through the acquisition of a tank terminal (JTT) in the Port of Jakarta.
“We believe that with an investment of 14 million euros ($17.30 million) over the next 18 to 24 months we can profitably position our capacity”, the company’s finance chief Gérald Paulides told Reuters.
Vopak’s first-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), excluding exceptional items, slipped to 190.2 million euros, but beat the 187 million euros expected in a Reuters poll. Vopak’s shares rose 4 percent by 0833 GMT.
The company, which has been hit by unfavourable movements in the U.S. and Singapore dollars, did not give specific earnings forecasts for this year, but said it expects 2018 to be influenced by currency exchange movements and the “currently less favorable oil market structure”.
Vopak is considering other investment opportunities mainly in Asia, Paulides said.
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