Port operator DP World, a unit of troubled state-owned conglomerate Dubai World, said it expected solid growth this year after posting a 35 per cent jump in net profit which rose to $450 million from $333 million the previous year.

Announcing the results on Wednesday, DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said the second half saw improved trading over the first half. 'The full year revenue of $3.07 billion and Ebitda of $1.24 billion are both well ahead of 2009 while our Ebitda margins returned to above 40 per cent. Shipping volumes too rose 14 per cent last year.'

DP World, he said, had delivered a positive and encouraging financial performance from its global portfolio of marine terminals, which reflect a stronger second half of the year as volume and revenue growth continued to improve on the first half of the year.

'This, coupled with continuing of cost management and improved terminal efficiencies, resulted in a return to Ebitda margins above 40 per cent and profit before tax in excess of $500 million.'

DP World, not included in parent company Dubai World's debt restructuring plan, is one of the largest port operators in the world and is 77 per cent-owned by the state-linked conglomerate.

The company sold 75 per cent of its Australian port operations for $1.5 billion in December to cut debt and focusing on emerging markets.

'While the return of container volumes across the industry has been an important driver, the actions taken at our terminals to increase revenue have contributed to us delivering container revenue ahead of both 2009 and 2008,' he noted.

In addition, non-container revenue has returned to growth with a particularly strong second half performance.

'We have continued our focus on cash generation and cost management as well as driving efficiencies in our terminals.  Success in this regard has resulted in 2010 Ebitda margins ahead of expectations at 40.3 per cent and second half margins back at 2008 levels with increased cash generation to over $1.1 billion.' 

'This strong performance helps maintain flexibility in our balance sheet allowing us to continue to invest in our global portfolio, including in two new terminals in Callao (Peru), and Vallarpadam (India) opened in 2010 and early 2011 respectively,' Sulayem added.

'2010 saw a return to volume growth across all our terminals, albeit with different growth rates across regions,' said the chairman.

'Almost all of our container terminals around the world are back at or ahead of volumes last seen in 2008 which was a peak year for the global container terminal industry,' he added.

According to him, the group continued to invest in its portfolio during the last two years of global crisis and is seeing the benefit of this investment in these results.

The earnings report comes as Dubai World prepares to sign the final agreement with creditors to restructure $24.9 billion in debt

Commenting on the results, CEO Mohammed Sharaf said, 'Our 2010 results, with profit before tax in excess of $500 million, reflect a return of container volume growth and greater revenue generation, together with the benefits derived from our cost cutting measures and improved terminal efficiencies implemented since the downturn.'

“In the first two months of 2011 we have seen 12 per cent volume growth across our consolidated portfolio with further margin improvement from 2010.'

“Despite continuing economic fragility and political turbulence in some parts of the world, given the geographic spread of our portfolio, we remain confident that we will make further progress in 2011,' Sharaf added.

He said the focus now remains on delivering profitable growth, improving Ebitda margins and driving cash generation in both the short term and long term through a combination of incremental revenue generation, improving efficiencies and cost management.

Sharaf said earlier this year that there was no change to DP World's plan to list in London in the second quarter.-Reuters and TradeArabia News Service