Global Ports Holding PLC (GPH) Trading Statement for the nine
months to 31 December 2022 13-March-2023 / 07:00 GMT/BST
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Global Ports Holding Plc
Trading Statement for the nine months to 31 December 2022
Global Ports Holding Plc ("GPH" or "Group"), the world's largest
independent cruise port operator, today issues a trading update for
the nine-month period from 1 April to 31 December 2022.
9 months ended 9 months ended YoY Change 3 months ended 3 months ended
Key Financials & KPIs1
31-Dec-22 31-Dec-21 (%) 31-Dec-22 (Q3) 31-Dec-21 (Q3)
Passengers (m)2 6.8 1.5 338% 2.4 1.0
Total Revenue (USDm) 173.9 107.2 62% 55.6 46.2
Adjusted Revenue (USDm)3 92.2 28.2 227% 28.1 13.4
Segmental EBITDA (USDm)4 63.9 8.1 691% 19.9 5.9
Adjusted EBITDA (USDm)5 59.1 4.4 1253% 18.7 4.9
Segmental EBITDA Margin (%) 69.3% 28.6% 70.9% 44.2%
Adjusted EBITDA Margin (%) 64.2% 15.5% 66.8% 36.2%
31-Dec-22 31-Mar-22
Gross Debt IFRS (USDm) 614.4 598.6 2.6%
Gross Debt ex IFRS 16 Lease (USDm) 554.4 534.7 3.7%
Net Debt ex IFRS 16 Lease (USDm) 490.3 435.0 12.7%
Cash and Cash Equivalents (USDm) 64.0 99.7 -35.8%
Notes 1. All USD refers to United States Dollar unless otherwise
stated 2. Passenger numbers refer to consolidated and managed
portfolio consolidation perimeter; hence it excludesequity
accounted ports La Goulette, Lisbon, Singapore and Venice. 3.
Adjusted revenue is calculated as total revenue excluding IFRIC-12
construction revenue 4. Segmental EBITDA includes the EBITDA from
all equity consolidated ports and the pro-rata Net Profit
ofequity-accounted associates La Goulette, Lisbon, Singapore and
Venice and the contribution from managementagreements 5. Adjusted
EBITDA calculated as Segmental EBITDA less unallocated (holding
company) expenses
Key Highlights
-- The strong trading in the first half of the fiscal year
continued in the third quarter as the cruisemarket continued to
recover post the pandemic
-- GPH welcomed 2.4 million cruise passengers in the 3M period
ended 31 December 2022, a new GPH record forthis quarter, with 6.8m
passengers welcomed in the 9M period
-- Adjusted Revenue for the 9M period rose 227% to USD 92.2m,
with Q3 Adjusted Revenue rising 109%
-- Segmental EBITDA for the 9M period of USD 63.9m compared to
USD 8.1m for the same period last year -- Adjusted EBITDA for the
9M period was USD 59.1 compared to USD 4.4m for the same period
last year
-- Given the strong performance of the Group and the continued
growth in the number of ports in thenetwork, financial reporting
has been restructured. GPH will now report by geographic segment,
which bettermatches the organisational structure of the business.
As part of this restructure, Port of Adria, GPH's onlycommercial
port, will no longer be reported separately, reflecting the
strategic focus on cruise operations
-- After the period end GPH announced that the signing of a
15-year concession for Alicante Cruise Port
Business Review
Regional Breakdown 9 months ended 9 months ended YoY Change
31-Dec-22 31-Dec-21 (%)
Americas
Adjusted Revenue (USDm) 24.7 7.8 217%
Segmental EBITDA (USDm) 17.6 1.0 1660%
EBITDA Margin (%) 71% 13%
Passengers (m) 2.8 0.8 250%
West Med & Atlantic
Adjusted Revenue (USDm) 23.3 5.5 324%
Segmental EBITDA (USDm) 14.4 3.7 289%
EBITDA Margin (%) 62% 68%
Passengers (m) 2.1 0.5 320%
Central Med
Adjusted Revenue (USDm) 12.8 5.7 125%
Segmental EBITDA (USDm) 7.3 2.7 170%
EBITDA Margin (%) 57% 47%
Passengers (m) 0.9 0.3 200%
East Med & Adriatic
Adjusted Revenue (USDm) 22.7 2.0 1035%
Segmental EBITDA (USDm) 19 0.4 4650%
EBITDA Margin (%) 84% 20%
Passengers (m) 0.9 0.0 n/a
Other
Adjusted Revenue (USDm) 8.7 7.2 21%
Segmental EBITDA (USDm) 5.5 0.2 2650%
EBITDA Margin (%) 64% 3%
Passengers (m) 0.0 0.0 n/a
Unallocated (HoldCo)
Adjusted EBITDA (USDm) (4.7) (3.7) 27%
Group
Adjusted Revenue (USDm) 92.2 28.2 227%
Adjusted EBITDA (USDm) 59.1 4.4 1243%
EBITDA Margin (%) 64% 12%
Passengers (m) 6.8 1.5 353%
Americas
GPH's cruise operations in the Americas in the 9M period include
GPH's two Caribbean ports, Nassau and Antigua and will include
Prince Rupert, Canada when cruise operations begin there shortly.
Trading in the Americas improved strongly in the 9M period, with
passenger volumes of 2.8m compared to just 768k in the comparable
period last year.
Nassau Cruise Port benefitted from its proximity to the key home
ports in Florida and the cruise lines' continued desire to operate
a higher volume than normal of short cruises in this area at the
expense of longer itineraries to other parts of the Caribbean. As a
result, Nassau Cruise Port welcomed 2.6m passengers in 2022, up
from just 687k passengers in the comparable period last year.
Nassau Cruise Port, on some days, is now hosting six cruise
ships simultaneously, utilising the new berthing that was created
as part of our significant investment into the port. On 27 February
2023, the port welcomed record of 28,554 passengers in a single
day.
During the 9M period, we continued to invest in the
transformation of Nassau Cruise Port, and as GPH's investment into
the port nears completion, the vision for this port is becoming a
reality. GPH management believes this port will stand as a
testament to GPH's cruise port and destination development
capabilities and as a global blueprint for future cruise port
investment.
Due to the major US cruise lines focussing on short cruises
close to the Southern US home ports throughout the Winter 2022/23
cruise season, passenger volumes at Southern Caribbean cruise ports
were negatively impacted.
For GPH, this meant Antigua Cruise Port's cruise operations,
which still experienced a significant increase year-on-year, grew
at a slower pace than that experienced by Nassau Cruise Port.
Cruise passenger volumes at Antigua Cruise Port of 224k in the 9M
period were up strongly from 81k in the comparable period last year
but significantly below the 348k passengers that called at Antigua
Cruise Port in the same comparable period in 2019.
Our Americas operations achieved a milestone in the year with
the signing of our first cruise port concession in North America.
The signing of a 10-year concession, with a 10-year extension
option for Prince Rupert Cruise Port in British Columbia, Canada,
is an important step in our continued growth.
Prince Rupert Cruise Port is located at the heart of the British
Columbian cruise market, just 40 miles from Alaska, one of the
largest cruise markets in the world, and ideally placed for cruise
itineraries to and from the key homeports in the region: Seattle
and Vancouver.
Prince Rupert Cruise Port is expected to welcome nearly 80,000
passengers over the 2023 summer cruise season. The port has the
infrastructure and capability to handle larger ships, and GPH
expects to drive a significant increase in passenger volumes in the
years ahead.
Further significant expansion in the Americas is expected in
2023.
In August 2022, GPH signed a 30-year concession agreement for
San Juan Cruise Port, Puerto Rico and in October 2022 a Memorandum
of Understanding was signed for a 30-year concession, with a
10-year extension option, for the cruise port of St Lucia.
San Juan Cruise Port is a strategically important port in the
Caribbean cruise market for both Eastern Caribbean and Southern
Caribbean itineraries and handled 2.2m passenger movements in 2019.
On completion, expected later in 2023, it will become the
third-largest cruise port in GPH's global network.
The successful execution of the concession agreement for St
Lucia is expected in the first half of calendar year 2023. As part
of the agreement GPH will invest in a material upgrade of the
cruise port facilities, including the expansion of the existing
berths. In calendar year 2019, St Lucia welcomed c.790k passengers
and this is expected to rise to over 1m in the medium term.
West Med & Atlantic
GPH's West Med & Atlantic region includes our Spanish ports
Barcelona, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Las Palmas, Malaga, Tarragona
and Vigo and Kalundborg, Denmark, as well as the equity pick-up
contribution from Lisbon and Singapore.
In 2022, the West Med & Atlantic region welcomed 2.1m
passengers, excluding the third quarter contribution from the new
ports in the Canary Islands, passenger volumes were 1.9m. This
compares favourably to just 465k passengers in the comparable
period last year and 2.7m passengers in 2019.
Cruise activity in the West Med & Atlantic region improved
during the 9M reporting period. Call volumes, particularly at
Barcelona, the largest port in the West Med & Atlantic
reporting segment, were strong and, by the end of 2022, close to
2019 levels.
However, initially passenger volumes were negatively impacted by
the uncertainty around the omicron variant during the important
2022 booking season and the lower onboard capacity limits set by
the cruise lines as they ramped up operations. In the 3M period to
the end of June 2022, call volumes at Barcelona were 1% higher and
passenger volumes were 40% lower than in comparable period in
2019.
As the period progresses onboard restrictions eased and booking
patterns and occupancy began to normalise. In the 3M period to 31
December 2022, Barcelona's call volumes were 1% higher than in 2019
but passenger volumes were just 12% lower than in 2019 as passenger
numbers recovered.
The West Med & Atlantic network grew its cruise port
footprint further during the reporting period. Adding three new
ports when GPH's 80:20 joint venture with a local partner signed
three concessions in the Canary Islands: Las Palmas Cruise Port (40
years), Lanzarote Cruise Port (20 years) and Fuerteventura Cruise
Port (20-years). These three cruise ports handled 1.5 million
cruise passenger movements in 2019.
As part of the agreements, the joint venture will invest
approximately EUR 40 million into constructing a new cruise
terminal in Las Palmas and modular terminal facilities in Lanzarote
and Fuerteventura.
Central Med
Our Central Med region includes Valletta Cruise Port, Malta as
well as GPH's four Italian ports (Cagliari, Catania, Crotone and
Taranto) and the equity pick-up contribution from La Goulette,
Tunisia and Venice Cruise Port, Italy. Trading in this region was
similar to that experienced in the West Med & Atlantic region,
with cruise calls rising strongly compared to prior year but with
lower than-normal occupancy levels. Although like with the Central
Med, occupancy levels rose as the period progressed.
The Central Med region, driven by Valletta Cruise Port, GPH's
largest port in this region, welcomed 929k passengers in the 9M
Reporting Period, a significant increase from the 293k passengers
welcomed in the comparable period but considerably lower than the
1.3m welcomed in 2019.
East Med & Adriatic
GPH's East Med & Adriatic operations include the flagship
Turkish port Ege, Port Kusadasi, as well as Bodrum, Turkey and
Zadar, Croatia. In this region, the impact on passenger volumes of
lower than-normal occupancy levels was outshone by the significant
increase in cruise calls compared to the same period last year and
2019.
Passenger numbers in the East Med & Adriatic region were
884k, a significant increase from the 18k welcomed last year and
the 579k in 2019. This strong recovery was driven by the trading at
our Turkish ports.
In 2017, our Turkish ports suffered a sharp drop in passenger
numbers due to geo-political issues. In early calendar year 2020,
bookings from the cruise lines indicated that Ege Port would report
a strong recovery in passenger volume numbers. Unfortunately, the
onset of the Covid-19 pandemic meant this expected recovery did not
materialise. Despite the lower-than-normal occupancy levels across
the industry in the 9M reporting period, the pent-up demand to
return to cruising to Turkish ports drove the strong performance in
the East Med & Adriatic region.
Other
Our Other reporting segment includes our commercial port Port of
Adria, Montenegro, our management agreement for Ha Long Cruise
Port, Vietnam and the contribution from our port services
businesses.
We are focused on growing port services at GPH-operated ports
and third-party-operated ports. These services primarily target
enhancing cruise passengers' overall experience in the port and
destination and include destination and shoreside services, crew
services, and area & terminal management.
Port of Adria's future within GPH remains under review by the
GPH board.
Balance Sheet
At 31 December 2023, IFRS Gross Debt was USD 614.4m (Ex-IFRS-16
Finance Leases Gross Debt: USD 554.4m), virtually constant compared
to the Dross Debt at 31 March 2022 of USD 598.6m (Ex-IFRS-16
Finance Leases Gross Debt: USD 534.7m).
Net debt Ex-IFRS-16 finance leases was USD 490.3m compared to
USD 435.0m as at 31 March 2022. At 31 December 2022, GPH had cash
and cash equivalents of USD 64.0m, compared to USD 99.7m at 31
March 2022. The main driver of the increase in net debt and
decrease in cash is the ongoing investment into Nassau Cruise Port,
which is now nearing completion.
Operating cash flow of USD 43.0m reflected the growth in EBITDA.
Net capital expenditure was USD 61.2m, including the impact of
advances, with the vast majority of it spent on our continued
investment into the transformation of Nassau Cruise Port.
Outlook
The outlook for the cruise industry is very positive. The major
cruise lines have reported a record-breaking 2023 wave season, the
global cruise fleet is now fully deployed and occupancy rates,
which returned to pre-Covid 19 levels in some markets during 2022,
are expected to be at pre-Covid 19 levels across the global cruise
fleet by summer 2023.
Longer-term, the outlook for the cruise industry continues to be
positive as well. The passenger capacity of the industry is
forecasted to grow by 45% by 2027, from 2019 levels. There are 75
cruise ships currently in the cruise ship order book and due for
delivery by 2027.
This growth in the number of ships and the size of ships means
that many cruise ports will need to invest in their infrastructure
in order to be able to accommodate the new larger ships. There is
no better example of this type of investment than GPH's significant
investments into Antigua Cruise Port and Nassau Cruise Port.
Despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on GPH and the cruise
industry, our investment to increase the capacity of these ports
and transform the passenger experience has largely continued as
planned over the last two years; this demonstrates the commitment
of GPH and our partners to our ports and destinations.
The combination of capacity growth and strong passenger demand
reflects the strength of the industry and the success of the
industry's segmentation strategy. The need globally for significant
investment into cruise port assets and GPH's experience and
know-how in cruise port operations and port and destination
development means GPH has a distinct competitive advantage when
bidding for new cruise port concessions. Our inorganic growth
strategy is expected to deliver further significant progress in the
year ahead.
With operations expected to begin at Alicante Cruise Port
shortly, as well as San Juan and St Lucia expected to join the
network in calendar year 2023, GPH targets to end 2023 with 29
cruise ports.
Our strategic ambition to grow the number of cruise ports in the
network remains a key focus for the board and management. Despite
the unprecedented nature of the Covid-19 crisis and its significant
impact on our business, we have continued to grow the number of
cruise ports in our network. We look forward to welcoming more
ports into our network in the year ahead.
After the end of the reporting period we announced that in light
of the continued emergence of significant and exciting
opportunities in our cruise business we were undertaking a
strategic review of the Group's current capital and financing
structure. The review is ongoing and a further announcement will be
made as appropriate.
For the 12M period to 31 March 2023, given the strength of
current trading, we now expect to report Adjusted EBITDA in excess
of USD 65m. Outlook for the 2024 financial year will be provided at
time of the announcement of full year results.
CONTACT
For investor, analyst and financial media enquiries: For trade media enquiries:
Investor Relations Global Ports Holding
Martin Brown Ceylan Erzi
Telephone: +44 (0) 7947 163 687 Telephone: +90 212 244 44 40
Email: martinb@globalportsholding.com Email: ceylane@globalportsholding.com
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ISIN: GB00BD2ZT390
Category Code: MSCH
TIDM: GPH
LEI Code: 213800BMNG6351VR5X06
Sequence No.: 229172
EQS News ID: 1580289
End of Announcement EQS News Service
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