DP World has announced its financial results for 2021, reporting revenue growth of 26.3 per cent to $10.7 billion.
This growth was supported by acquisitions and new concessions, including Angola, Unico, and Transworld.
Like-for-like revenue increased by 11.7 per cent. Like-for-like containerised revenue was also up by 14.2 per cent.
Containerised revenue growth was higher than volume growth mainly due to higher storage and reefer monitoring revenue.
Like-for-like non-containerised revenue also rose 9.5 per cent with a strong performance from DP World’s feedering business.
The group’s overall EBITDA came to $3.8 billion with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 35.5 per cent.
Cash from operating activities increased 27.3 per cent to a record $3.6 billion.
DP World’s capital expenditure in 2021 amounted to $1.3 billion, compared to $1.07 billion in 2020. Its guidance for 2022 is for up to $1.4 billion with planned investments into UAE, Jeddah, London Gateway, Sokhna, Indonesia, and Callao.
The company’s portfolio delivered a strong performance last year as it processed 77.9 million TEU across all of its container terminals, up 9.4 per cent from 2020.
According to DP World, it has seen an encouraging start to the new year as it remains focused on delivering integrated supply chain solutions to cargo owners to drive growth and returns.
Some of the group’s operational highlights from the previous year include it signing a collaboration agreement with the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the development of the deep-sea port at Banana.
Once completed, the facility will have a container handling capacity of about 450 000 TEU per year, and a 30-hectare yard to store containers.
Back in October, DP World also joined forces with UK-based development finance institution CDC Group to establish a new platform to invest in ports and logistics across Africa.
The creation of this platform aims to accelerate investment in Africa and remove trade inefficiencies.
Furthermore, DP World UAE Region and Petrochem Middle East signed an $80 million deal to develop a chemical terminal in Quay 7 at the Port of Jebel Ali.
In a statement from July, Petrochem Middle East said it signed a 30-year lease agreement that expands its business in the region.
“We are delighted to report this strong set of results with adjusted EBITDA growing by $0.5 billion to a new record of $3.8 billion,” said Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World.
“Importantly, growth was broad-based across our terminals and logistics assets as we begin to drive synergies across our portfolio. This significant growth once again demonstrates that our strategy to deliver integrated supply chain solutions will drive sustainable long-term returns.
Furthermore, our recently announced acquisition of Imperial Logistics and syncreon will bring value-add capabilities in high growth verticals and markets, which will allow us to offer a more compelling set of supply chain solutions.
“By leveraging our best-in-class infrastructure across inland logistics, ports & terminals, economic zones and marine logistics network, DP World aims to lower inefficiencies and provide improved connectivity in fast-growing trade lanes such as Asia, Middle East & Africa.
“Importantly, we continue to make positive progress with our capital recycling program, and this combined with the strong operational performance, leaves us well-positioned to deliver on our 2022 combined (DP World and PFZW) leverage target of less than 4x Net Debt to adjusted EBITDA.
“Overall, we are pleased with the 2021 performance and looking ahead to 2022, we expect our portfolio to continue to deliver growth and, while the year has started encouragingly, we remain mindful that the geopolitical uncertainty, Covid-19 pandemic, continued supply chain disruptions and rising inflation could hinder the global economic recovery.”
