The Piraeus Port Authority (PPA) S.A. announced historically high performances during the presentation of the third quarter financial results.
“The Company continues its upward growth, achieving historically high performances that clearly reflect the successful implementation of its μanagement’s plans, despite the ongoing challenges which it faces,” it said in the announcement.
More specifically, the main characteristics of the reported period are:
- Significant improvement in revenues, which recorded a new historic high level
- Effective management of expenses by keeping their change at a lower level than the increase in turnover
- Impressive improvement of its profitability indicators, while maintaining its financial strength and strong liquidity
Revenues continued the upward trend of the previous period. At the forefront of this growth are the Cruise, Container and Car Terminal sectors, as well as Coastal Shipping. Revenue coming from the Concession of the Piers II & III, although they have been decreased in the nine-month period due to the cancellation of ship itineraries through the Suez Canal, they had a positive change in the third quarter. The improved results and profit margins reflect not only the better revenue performance, but also the effective cost management policy implemented by the Company’s Management, which maintains it at an optimal level, despite the ongoing challenges of the energy crisis, the general inflationary economic environment, as well as increases in staff costs.
An increase in throughput compared to 2023 was recorded in most of PPA’s operational sectors.
- The pioneer of this growth is the Cruise sector, mainly influenced by the increase in the number of cruise ships using the port of Piraeus as their starting point (homeport/arrival and departure of the ship from the same port) from 455 to 488 (+7.3%), while the increase in homeport cruise passengers is about 32.4% (from 626,759 to 829,587 passengers).
- The Container Terminal – Pier I recorded an increase of + 3.5% in total cargo service, reversing the overall performance recorded in the first half of the year. This upward trend is affected both by the excellent course of domestic cargo throughout the first nine months of 2024, which is increased by + 35,4% (from 128,059 to 173,362 TEUs) following the growth path of the Greek economy, as well as the impressive increase in transshipment cargoes in the 3rd quarter of the year compared to the corresponding third quarter of the previous year (+30.0% from 72,166 to 93,788 TEUs), limiting the overall decrease in transshipment loads to -11.5% (from 271,787 to 240,502 TEUs). The above reversal of the overall picture of the operation of the Container Terminal fully reflects the actions of the Management to support the operation of the sector.
- Notable increases in all indicators were recorded by the Ferry sector, following the positive trend of the Greek market and Greek tourism.
According to the announcement, the company not only remains resilient to interest rate risks and unstable economic conditions but also makes effective use of its strong liquidity and emerging opportunities in the Greek market by investing in short-term time deposits, thus eliminating most of its risk exposure and enabling the smooth implementation of its huge investment plan and overall operation.
The significant generation of positive cash flow and the low debt-to-equity ratio indicate the ability and stable growth of the company.
- The total borrowing bank of the Company is significantly reduced, compared to 31.12.2023 due to the repayment of 2 installments of the current loans (total repayment amount of 3.0 million).
- The Company’s financial income, which is mainly derived from its investments in short-term term deposits, increased by 2.8 million, compared to the same period last year (30.09.2024: 4.0 million / 30.09.2023: 1.2 million)
- The Cash and cash equivalents clearly reflect its strong liquidity. It should be noted that the slight decrease in the balance during the current period is mainly due to the repayment of the dividend for the financial year 2023 of a total amount of 33.4 million, which took place in August 2024.
- The Company’s investment activity continues based on its business plan and by the third quarter of 2024 total investments of 32.2 million were made, compared to 15.6 million in the corresponding period of the previous year (31.12.2023: 27.4 million).
