The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Dundee Port back in the black after dip last year
£10m investment made to accommodate decommissioning
Dundee Port has returned to growth this year after it recorded a 9% dip in turnover last year, Forth Ports said yesterday.
Newly published accounts show the Port of Dundee posted revenues of £8.2 million for the year ending December 31, a drop from £9m in 2015 as North Sea oil revenue was “depressed”.
However, the directors are “looking to the future with confidence” after a £10m investment was made in a quay extension to accommodate oil and gas decommissioning.
In the year to date, the Port of Dundee has returned to growth with strong rigrelated activity, North Sea oil project revenues and increased liquid fertiliser, timber, aggregates and cruise activity.
Forth Ports, which operates five ports on the Firth of Forth as well as Dundee and Tilbury, saw its turnover increase by £11.5m in 2015 to £214.4m last year with most ports delivering revenue growth.
Pre-tax profits rose by 32% to £68m, a figure which includes a share of joint venture profits of £5.5m from the sale of land at London Distribution Park, adjacent to the Port of Tilbury.
The company said the profit growth was underpinned by prudent cost control and a reduction in the lower margin, container-related business at Tilbury.
Its strong revenues in Scotland were driven by liquid bulks, piped cargoes and general cargoes.
Port of Tilbury increased property rentals, grain related revenues and general port business.
Last year was also a strong year for cruise business, with 150 cruise calls.
The company is expecting this number to increase to 190 this year.
As well as the £10m investment in Dundee, the company also spent £27m acquiring land in Essex and also built a new 50,000 sq ft warehouse at Port of Grangemouth.
In Dundee, pre-tax profit fell from £4.1m to £643,000 however this was largely due to movement on investment property valuation – in 2015, there was a £2.7m increase recorded and last year a £546,000 decrease.
The company said the principal movement was the reallocation of the Rigmar building out of investment property and into operational property.
Referring to the Dundee accounts, Forth Ports director Stuart Paterson said: “Operating profit of £1,866k was down on last year (£5,589k) as a result of lower revenue and decline in investment property valuation. The directors are satisfied with the trading results for the year despite the lack of North Sea oil and gas project related work and look to the future with confidence that the current level of trading will continue.”