Forth Ports hoping for better half
Forth Ports, Britains third-largest ports operator hopes to make progress in 2004, despite lower first-half operating profit. Forth operates eight ports, including Dundee and Tilbury, with six ports on the Forth estuary. The company said it expected first-half earnings for its ports business to fall short of the £ 16.7m operating profit delivered in the first-half of 2003.
Last year’s first-half operating result rose by 20% from the previous year as it Tilbury facility improved its performance.
The firm said the secondhalf outlook for the ports business was significantly stronger than the first half and, as in previous years, profits from property related activities would be concentrated in the second half of the year.
Paper giant Stora Enso’s new £34m warehouse facility at Tilbury is due to open next July. DFDS will operate the service from Finland and Sweden to Tilbury, with an initial 680,000 tonnes of paper products rising to 800,000 tonnes by 2008.
Meanwhile the group’s seven Scottish port facilities have benefited from increased container traffic, but saw lower North Sea business.
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