Transporting 175,000 cars, 700,000 passengers and 163,000 containers between Ireland, the UK and Europe helped Irish Continental (ICGC) book a 3.7 per cent increase in revenue in the first half (see table). But fuel costs increased by almost half – a result of the rebounding oil price – so this strong top-line performance fed through to fall in underlying operating profit from €20.8m (£19.1m) to €19.1m.
But reported numbers benefited from the €44.7m sale of the MV Kaitaki ferry to New Zealand transport company KiwiRail. According to management, the ship had become “surplus to ICG’s operational requirements” since the acquisition of cruise ferry Ulysses in 2001. The sale also helped ICG swing into a net cash position despite a slight fall in free cash inflows in the period.
Booming imports in Ireland kept demand for container shipping high which helped spark a 5.7 per cent increase in revenue and a 1.5 per cent rise in adjusted cash profit in the container and terminal division. This helped offset a slightly disappointing 4.2 per cent decline in adjusted cash profit in the ferries division.
Consensus forecasts are for a 2017 adjusted pre-tax profit of €68m, giving adjusted EPS of 30.3ȼ (from €60.4m and 31ȼ in 2016). Beyond that, the arrival of a new ship in 2018 should provide further capacity for earnings growth.
| IRISH CONTINENTAL GROUP (ICGC) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 561ȼ | MARKET VALUE: | €1.06bn | |
| TOUCH: | 546-566ȼ | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 593ȼ | LOW: 404ȼ |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.9% | PE RATIO: | 14 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 101ȼ | NET CASH: | €26.7m | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (€m) | Pre-tax profit (€m) | Earnings per share (ȼ) | Dividend per share (ȼ) |
| 2016 | 151 | 19.7 | 10.3 | 3.82 |
| 2017 | 156 | 47.5 | 22.8 | 4.01 |
| % change | +4 | +141 | +121 | +5 |
| Ex-div: | 21 Sep | |||
| Payment: | 6 Oct | |||
| £1=€1.09 | ||||
