Grand Harbour Marina plc - Interim Results

On 31 August 2015, Grand Harbour Marina plc published its interim results covering the six months ended 30 June 2015.

Performance Overview

During the period under review, Grand Harbour Marina plc reported a 14.1% increase in revenue to €1.8 million reflecting an increase of more than 30% in berthing revenues from annual contracts which offset reductions in seasonal and visitor fees. It is also noteworthy to highlight that for the fourth consecutive year, the Company did not register any berth sales during the first six months of the year.

Operating expenses also increased by 8.5% to €1.16 million largely reflecting higher utility costs. This led to an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) figure of €0.64 million representing a 25.9% increase over the previous comparable period. Similarly, the EBITDA margin improved by 3.33 percentage points to 35.6%.

After accounting for depreciation of €0.16 million, unchanged from the previous comparable figure, the Company registered an operating profit of €0.48 million compared to €0.35 million in the first six months of 2014.

Net finance costs increased by 15.6% to €0.46 million reflecting a mix of lower investment income and higher interest expense.

The Group also reported a share of profit from the shareholding in the IC Cesme marina in Turkey of €0.05 million compared to €0.06 million in the previous comparable period. Despite the reduction in profitability, the marina in Turkey registered a 15.4% increase in seaside revenues to €1.5 million as the number of contracted berths increased from 347 as at 30 June 2014 to 383 as the end of the period under review despite 35 boat owners not renewing their contracts. On the other hand, landside revenues remained unchanged. However, this improvement in overall revenue was partly offset by higher costs largely related to operator fees for Camper & Nicholsons and IC Holdings.

Overall, the Group reported a pre-tax profit of €81,000 compared to €15,795 in the first six months of 2014.

After accounting for taxation of €0.12 million (H1 2014: €0.05 million), the Group’s net profit for the period under review amounted to €0.04 million, largely unchanged from the profit figure registered in the first six months of 2014.

The Statement of Financial Position as at 30 June 2015 shows a 3.7% drop in total assets to €15.9 million compared to the figures as at 31 December 2014 mainly reflecting the 61.7% reduction in assets held under trust to €0.41 million as the funds were used to buy back €0.76 million worth of its bonds. Similarly, total liabilities contracted by 4.2% to €13.2 million mainly reflecting the aforementioned bond buy-backs. Overall, the Group’s equity base dropped by 1.4% to €2.7 million mainly due to the marginal loss incurred during the period under review. This translates into a net asset value per share of €0.137 (Dec 2014: €0.1389).

Dividend

The Directors did not declare an interim dividend.

Outlook

The Directors described the period under review as encouraging given that both marinas generated a pre-tax profit without any long-term berth sales on the back of a more effective operational performance, higher occupancy rate of the berths as well as a control of expenditure at a sustainable level. Moving forward, the Directors shall continue to focus on these indicators to deliver value to shareholders.

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Grand Harbour Marina plc – Interim Report for the six months ended 30 June 2015.