Milford Haven Port Authority results for the year ended December 2009

The Port Authority has today, 9th July 2010 released its Annual Report and Accounts for the trading period 1st January to 31st December 2009. Extracts and highlights follow, together with a statement from Chairman David Benson and recently appointed Chief Executive Alec Don.

Group financial highlights

• Turnover £23.4m
• Group operating profit £2.6m
• Profit before tax £4.2m
• Total assets £51.7m

Operational highlights

• Oil and fuel product throughput held steady.
• Ferry volumes adversely affected by the recession.
• Overall volume growth with advent to the port of LNG.
• Milford Haven is now the third largest port in the UK by volume.
• £2.6 million capital expenditure programme.

Outlook

• MHPA is making satisfactory progress towards achieving a sufficient Return on Capital Employed to sustain future investment.
• Deep water and excellent inland energy linkages make Milford Haven an attractive location for further inward investment by the Energy Sector, particularly renewables.
• Preparation of a port Master Plan is underway and will lay out a pathway for future growth and investment.

Chairman’s Statement

The commencement of operations at two new LNG terminals in Milford Haven helped the Port Authority to a 26% increase in turnover and a £2.6m operating profit. (Annual Report and Accounts for 2009, released today - 9th July 2010).

Chairman David Benson said the Authority’s performance was “satisfactory”, but strongly re-confirmed a commitment to ongoing financial improvement in parallel with a drive to expand Port operations by capitalising on the rapidly developing energy infrastructure on the Milford Haven Waterway.

“Our prime objective continues to be the improvement of the Group’s financial performance and that of developing our core business.

“The future is characterised by our plans to work with our partners to ensure that Milford Haven can take advantage of the growing energy sector interest here,” he said.

The accounts show a Milford Haven Port Authority Group turnover of £23.4m and operating profit of £2.6m, up from £0.8m in the preceding year. Growth in core port operations were offset by a reduction in the contribution from associates, with the result that pretax profit at £4.2m was 9.5% down from the preceding year.

During the year, the Port handled 59 million gross tons of shipping - 11.7% more than the previous twelve months - equating to some 39.3 million tonnes of cargo - making it the third largest port by cargo volume in the UK.

Mr Benson highlighted a capital expenditure programme over the year of almost £2.6 million as part of a planned programme of investment to ensure that the Port could capitalise on its position at the heart of a developing UK energy hub, which as well as LNG and the established oil terminals, includes a 2GW power station being built on the south shore of the estuary and a growing interest in the renewable energy sector.

He said a key brownfield site on the north side of the Waterway has a number of unique advantages for the purposes of future port development and reducing the port’s current dependence on oil and gas:

“It is close to oil, gas and electricity grid connections as well as road and rail and, above all, provides access to deep water a key requirement for a successful port development able to drive further economic growth within Pembrokeshire” he said.

“We look forward to working with our partners to open up opportunities such as this to attract new business to the Port and play our part in further helping develop the economy in Pembrokeshire, he concluded.”

Comment from Alec Don Chief Executive

“We need to take the benefits of our current strong volume performance and growth – driven by LNG, and re-invest that to attract new opportunities and trades into the Port

“With our deep water facility, a highly skilled and experienced workforce together with our excellent energy infrastructure, Milford Haven offers an unrivalled location for energy companies to invest.

We are now very focussed on our day-to-day business of managing and growing the Port in the interest of our stakeholders.”