In the 1st half of 2018, revenue of OT Logistics Capital Group increased by 10.3% to PLN 477.9 million

The OT Logistics Capital Group, the biggest port operator in Poland and a leader in inland shipping in Central and Eastern Europe, recorded consolidated revenue of PLN 477.9 million in the 1st half of the year, which represents a rise by over 10% year on year. In this period, the Group incurred a net loss which mainly results from high financial costs. OT Logistics carries out works on the debt roll-over and may issue new shares, which will contribute to reduction of the debt servicing costs.

– The Group implements its adopted strategy and – very importantly – generates cash. Cash flows from operating activities amounted to PLN 37.6 million, compared with PLN 14.3 million last year. Now, works on the debt roll-over and reduction of the debt servicing costs are our priority – says Zbigniew Nowik, President of the OT Logistics Management Board.

Since the 1st quarter of 2018, the Capital Group has effected a new division of revenue into 4 main segments of activity: port services, forwarding, rail services, and inland navigation together with other kinds of traffic.

OT Port Świnoujście which marked a significant increase in handled cargoes, mainly thanks to the large volume of coal and ore handling operations, stood out positively in the harbour segment. A rise in the weight of handled cargoes came to 43% year on year. A considerable increase in general cargo handling operations (by 34%) was also recorded by OT Port Gdynia. However, lower volumes of bulk cargoes, including agro, were a decisive factor for the entire result of handlings. Croatian Luka Rijeka port marked a slightly lower level of handling operations than a year before due to the fact that handling capacity was not fully exploited. It arose, among others, from the necessity to repair and modernise key handling equipment. In total, by 6% more cargoes than a year earlier were handled in the Group’s ports.

The rail segment companies of the Capital Group play a role of an internal carrier within the Capital Group, which allows decreasing part of the activity’s fixed costs. In the 1st half-year, a rise in the rail companies’ transport performance was 30% (to 505.6 million tkm), compared with the previous year.At present, the Group implements the debt roll-over plan. In May this year, the OT Logistics Management Board announced a programme on issuance of bonds up to PLN 200 million. After the end of the 1st half-year, the company accomplished on-time redemption of series E bonds with value of PLN 10 million and concluded a conditional agreement with bondholders to postpone the deadline for redemption of series G bonds by over a year. At the same time, early redemption of part of bonds of this series with value of PLN 3.6 million was carried out. In August, upon a request of the major shareholder, Mistral fund, the General Meeting gave its consent to the issue of series E shares up to 2.3 million. Simultaneously, the Company holds talks on roll-over of the current debt.

– OT Logistics has always settled its liabilities towards creditors. However, the present difficult situation on the market of bonds does not make the task easy to us. Our goal is to reduce the costs of the debt and to ensure resources for further development. Achievement of the position of a leader in the Transport / Forwarding / Logistics sector in the region is a strategic objective – explains President Zbigniew Nowik, President of the OT Logistics Management Board.

rel (OT Logistics SA)