P&O boosts profit tenfold after rival gets Channel ban
JUMPS in passenger numbers and freight volumes helped P&O Ferries boost profits tenfold last year, according to its latest accounts.
The company last year saw the departure of its competitor, the Eurotunnel-owned MyFerryLink ferry operator, which was ordered by the Competition and Markets Authority to stop running crossChannel ferries. It means just P&O and DFDS now operate crosschannel services.
A spokesman for P&O Ferries told The Mail on Sunday: ‘We always said we don’t mind competition so long as it’s fair.’
The company – which runs vessels between the UK, Ireland and the Continent as well as transport across Europe in its Ferrymasters logistics division – recorded sales of £936 million in the year to December 31, 2015, down slightly on £943million the previous year.
However, lower costs and expenses meant pre-tax profits soared from £2.2 million to £26.8 million.
The P&O Ferries spokesman added: ‘The business has really turned around compared with previous years and we’re very much looking forward to building on that performance this year.’
Its route between Tilbury and Zeebrugge proved especially popular last year and the company is currently doubling the capacity of its Zeebrugge terminal.
The expansion was announced several weeks after the referendum vote and is aimed at meeting increased demand from exporters to Britain.
The company, which is ultimately owned by Dubai World Corporation, said the tourist market on the Dover-Calais route suffered from a market contraction, but was ‘able to drive revenue growth through increases in tourist yield’. It added that it was seeing strong advance booking on its tourist business in the North Sea.
The sector has also benefited from fuel efficiencies which have ‘driven significant savings in consumption’.
The company was founded in the 1960s and is now the largest operator of cross-Channel services, employing 3,700 workers. The highest-paid director – understood to be chief executive Helen Deeble – was paid £521,000 last year, a 20 per cent pay rise.
The Brexit vote was said to have so far had ‘little impact’ on the company. The P&O Ferries spokesman said they were still waiting to see the effects of the fall in sterling.
In 2015, the company carried more freight across the English Channel than in any previous year since 2003. Its ships transported 1.34 million units of freight during the 12-month period – an increase of 22 per cent year on year.