Dubai’s DP World reports flat half-year profit

DP World, one of the world’s largest port operators, said on Thursday it was confident it would meet full-year market expectations as it reported a flat half-year net profit.

The Dubai-headquartered firm made a profit of $606m attributable to the owners of the company in the six months to June 30, according to a bourse statement.

The earnings, which were in line with analyst estimates, according to Thomson Reuters data, compare with a $608m profit in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue increased 9.6 per cent to $2.29bn, and in July the company said gross container volumes rose 8.2 per cent in the first half to 34 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

“Looking ahead to the second half of the year, we expect higher levels of throughput to be maintained,” said chairman Sultan bin Sulayem.

The chairman said he was confident market expectations for the year would be met following the company’s first-half performance. He did not elaborate.

The company said it invested $595m in capital expenditure in key growth markets in the first half, and announced over $170m of acquisitions.

In June, subsidiary P&O Maritime acquired Spanish maritime services operator Reyser from Bergé y Cía SA in June.

Qatari vessels have been banned from the company’s terminals in the United Arab Emirates since June as part of an ongoing dispute between four Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

DP World did not mention the dispute in its statement.