Vopak has posted improved results for the first quarter, despite a slight drop in revenues. It is carrying on with plans to meet the energy transition head-on
Vopak has posted first quarter revenues of €328.2m, down from €361.8m for the same period last year. Net profit was up 3 per cent at €105.8m and adjusted EBITDA, excluding exceptional items, rose by 1.3 per cent to €297.8m. The company refers to these figures as “strong” and has adjusted its forecast for the year as a whole upwards, projecting proportional EBITDA of €1.14bn to €1.18bn, compared to €1.08bn for the full year 2023 (adjusted for divestments over the past year).
CEO Dick Richelle says of the results: “In the first quarter of 2024, we continued to deliver on our strategy to improve our financial and sustainability performance, to grow our business in industrial and gas terminals, and to accelerate towards new energies and sustainable feedstocks. The demand for our infrastructure services remained robust, resulting in an increased proportional occupancy of 93 per cent. Oil and gas markets were strong, driven by a higher demand for energy, and rerouting of supply chains. Chemical markets remain under pressure, having a limited impact on our chemical distribution terminals so far, while industrial terminals maintained solid results, backed by long-term take-or-pay contracts.”
AROUND THE WORLD
Vopak reports that its joint venture in India, Aegis Vopak Terminals, has acquired a new terminal in Mangalore, which is well connected to marine and road infrastructure. The site has a current tank storage capacity of 44,000 m3 with another 11,000 m3 under construction and space for further expansion.
Following Vopak’s three-pronged strategy to ‘improve, grow and accelerate’, the company put in place repurposed infrastructure at its Sebarok terminal in Singapore in February, designed to allow for the blending of biofuels into marine fuels. Later this year it expects to put similar upgrades into service at its terminals in Alemoa, Brazil, which will be expanded by 30,000 m3, and at Vlaardingen in the Netherlands, which will increase capacity by some 34,000 m3.
Investment is also being targeted at growing Vopak’s presence in gas infrastructure, with good progress in development of a new LPG export project in British Columbia, Canada. In South Africa, Vopak and its partner Transnet have been appointed to design, develop, build, finance, operate and maintain an LNG import terminal in Richards Bay; market interest is currently being gauged prior to a final investment decision being made.
An interesting development for Vopak is its move into electricity in the US; it reports that its terminals at Long Beach, Los Angeles and Corpus Christi and the Vopak Exolum Houston (formerly Vopak Moda Houston) terminal have all been running on 100 per cent green electricity since the start of this year; as of the end of 2023, renewable energy accounted for 66 per cent of its global energy consumption. In February Vopak announced a €9m investment in new infrastructure for energy storage in Texas, which will involve the installation and operation of two standalone lithium ion battery energy storage systems (BESS) near Houston. “This is an important development in executing Vopak’s strategy to accelerate towards new energies,” the company says.
