The group said despite continued uncertainty caused by the pandemic, rising inflation, and geopolitics, the medium-to-long-term outlook remains positive
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DP World, the Dubai-based global ports and logistics giant, recorded a 26.3 per cent jump in annual revenues to $10.8 billion for 2021, underpinned by acquisitions and new concessions.
Adjusted Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) grew 15.3 per cent to $3.828 billion with an adjusted margin of 35.5 per cent.
DP World said its capital expenditure guidance for 2022 would be $1.4 billion with investments planned in the UAE, Jeddah, London Gateway, Berbera (Somaliland), Sokhna (Egypt), Indonesia, and Callao (Peru).
In 2021, it invested $1.393 billion compared to $1.076 billion in 2020 invested across the existing portfolio.
The revenue growth of $2.245 billion was supported by acquisitions and new concessions including Angola, Unico and Transworld, the company said. “Like-for-like revenue increased by 11.7 per cent with like-for-like containerised revenue up 14.2 per cent driven by volume growth.”
In 2021, DP World registered strong volume growth by handling 77.9 million twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEU, across its global portfolio of container terminals in 2021, with gross container volumes increasing by 9.4 per cent year-on-year on a reported basis and up 8.9 per cent on a like-for-like basis. The company had surpassed the average industry growth rate of 6.5 per cent.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, DP World Group chairman and CEO, said the group’s growth in 2021 was broad-based across its terminals and logistics assets. “This significant growth once again demonstrates that our strategy to deliver integrated supply chain solutions will drive sustainable long-term returns.”
Going forward, Sulayem expects the DP World portfolio to continue to deliver growth. “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.”
"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. 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,” said Sulayem.
He said 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 leverage target of less than 4x Net Debt to adjusted EBITDA,” said Sulayem.
"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," said the DP World chief.
The group said despite continued uncertainty caused by the pandemic, rising inflation, and geopolitics, the medium-to-long-term outlook remains positive. “We remain focused on delivering integrated supply chain solutions to cargo owners to drive growth and returns.”
issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com