Hutchison Port Holdings Trust's H2 DPU rises 79% to 7.70 HK cents

HUTCHISON Port Holdings Trust (HPHT) has posted a distribution per unit (DPU) of 7.70 HK cents (1.3 Singapore cents) for its second half ended Dec 31, 2020, up 79 per cent from 4.30 HK cents in its first half ended June 30, 2020.

This brings its DPU for the full year to 12 HK cents, up from FY2019's 11 HK cents.

Additionally, for the full year, HPHT posted a net profit of HK$831.4 million, indicating a 57 per cent increase from FY2019's HK$528.2 million. This is despite a 3.7 per cent slip in revenue from the previous year to HK$10.71 billion.

In results announced on Monday, HPHT said that in 2020, full-year throughput for its ports was 2 per cent higher than the previous year.

Outbound cargoes to the US and Europe also grew at a faster pace in Q4 2020 by 33 per cent and 24 per cent respectively compared with the previous year. As a result, both of the outbound cargoes to the US and Europe for the full year were 5 per cent higher than that of 2019.

Particularly in the second half of the year, HPHT said that increased household and hospital PPE demand in the US and Europe, airline freighter capacity cuts and "efforts to catch up from pandemic disrupted supply chains" were what drove its outbound cargoes to the two regions. Outbound cargoes to the US increased 24 per cent year-on-year in the second half, while Europe had a 18 per cent y-o-y increase.

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Also contributing to the higher profits was the 6.4 per cent y-o-y fall in total operating expenses to HK$7.2 billion in FY2020.

For instance, cost of services rendered fell 8.1 per cent y-o-y as a result of savings arising from the Hong Kong Seaport Joint Operating Alliance arrangement, cost control initiatives, lower fuel price and reduction in operating costs due to Covid-19 supportive measures from the Chinese government. Staff costs were also reduced by 11 per cent y-o-y due to fewer headcount, employee activities as well as government supportive measures due to Covid-19.

As at end-December 2020, cash and cash equivalents of HPHT stood at HK$7.77 billion, up from HK$7 billion in FY2019.

For the latest payout, the books close on Feb 18 and the DPU will be paid out on March 26.

Units of HPHT closed up 2.27 per cent or 0.5 US cents to US$0.225 on Monday, before the results announcement.