INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) said on Friday it will use part of its unappropriated retained earnings for additional capital expenditures in 2018, as the port giant ramps up its expansion at home and abroad.
“On 29 Dec. 2017, the Board of Directors of ICTSI approved and authorized the appropriation of a portion of ICTSI’s unappropriated retained earnings in the amount of $25 million for additional working capital requirements of its continuing domestic and foreign expansion projects in 2018,” the listed port giant told the stock exchange.
Among the projects identified by ICTSI are Manila International Container Terminal’s (MICT) construction of Berth 7 at North Harbor, Manila; and Contecon Manzanillo S.A. de C.V. expansion of the Port of Manzanillo in Mexico.
ICTSI is also expanding its terminal in Puerto Cortes in Honduras, as well as its container facilities in Port of Umm Qasr in Iraq. The company earlier said it will spend $100 million for the expansion of the Basra Gateway Terminal (BGT) in North Port, Umm Qasr.
The port operator, owned by tycoon Enrique K. Razon, Jr., is continuing its expansion by tapping into emerging economies. Earlier this year, ICTSI said it has secured contracts to operate the ports in Montukea and Lae in Papua New Guinea.
For the first nine months of the year, ICTSI’s net income attributable to equity holders stood at $149.3 million, up 5% from the $141.9 million earned in the same period last year.
Shares in ICTSI slipped 0.38% to P105.50 each on Friday.
