ICTSI first quarter profits up 29%

ICTSI first quarter profits up 29% International Container Terminal Services Inc., the Philippines-based company that operates 11 container terminals around the world said it had profit of 777 million Philippine pesos ($19 million) in the first quarter, 25 percent more than the same 2007 period.
   Revenue for the quarter was 4.5 billion pesos ($110 million), up 45 percent over the same period in 2007.
   “ICTSI has gotten off to a terrific start in 2008.    Volumes at our four base terminals in Manila, Poland, Brazil and Madagascar grew by 9 percent in spite of the 12-day strike at our terminal in Poland, and revenues at these same four terminals increased by a healthy 18 percent,' said Enrique K. Razon Jr., ICTSI chairman and president. 'In addition, we continue to make good progress in improving profitability levels at the five terminals we acquired last year in China, Syria, Georgia, Ecuador and Colombia. We continue to see strong volume trends across our portfolio.”
   ICTSI handled consolidated volume of 841,756 TEUs in the first quarter of 2008, 31 percent more than in the same period in 2007. Domestic operations accounted for 427,064 TEUs handled, or 51 percent of consolidated volume, for the period.
   In the first quarter of 2008, ICTSI invested 1.1 billion pesos to expand the handling capacity and improve the operating efficiency of its operations in Manila, Brazil and Madagascar and to pay for the acquisition and rehabilitation of the new terminals in Ecuador, Syria, Georgia, and Colombia.