HPH revenue up 4%, but parent’s profit slides

HPH revenue up 4%, but parentÆs profit slides    The conglomerate that controls terminal operating powerhouse Hutchison Port Holdings saw profits decline 42 percent in 2008, as results for the year were released Thursday in Hong Kong.
   HPH saw revenue grow 4 percent to $5.1 billion in 2008, despite a demoralizing fourth quarter in which volumes in its terminals fell precipitously. The company said earnings before interest and taxes rose 3 percent to about $1.7 billion. Container volume grew 2 percent to 67.6 million TEUs.
   The parent company, Hutchison Whampoa, made $2.3 billion in 2008, down from nearly $4 billion in 2007.
   “While global trade declined sharply in the fourth quarter, the ports and related services division reported overall growth for the year,” the company said of its ports division. “This division is facing reducing global trade volumes, including in Hong Kong and other Asian ports, and therefore 2009 is expected to be a more challenging year.”
   Analysts have speculated that Hutchison, and other terminal operators heavily invested in China, like China Merchants, could be exposed more to slowing demand this year than those with more diversified portfolios of terminals. Hutchison does operate in several regions, and saw its biggest growth in 2008, revenue-wise, in terminals it operates in the Mediterranean and Panama. Its heaviest revenue losses came in South China, in Hong Kong and at its flagship Yantian terminal in the Port of Shenzhen.