PD Ports boosted its turnover by more than £10m after increasing volumes across its Teesport sites, new accounts show.
Revenue at the ports group jumped from £137.5m to £148.9m for the year ending December 31 2018, with the firm’s operations in the North East providing a significant boost to its figures.
Unitised volumes at Teesport - the total sum of all units handled by the site’s ferry container and rail terminals - grew by 9% during the period, from 340,000 units in 2017 to 372,000 last year. The growth was made despite the 海角视频 market as a whole declining.
Commenting in company accounts, the port’s chief executive Frans Calje said: “Our unitised volumes increased by 9% compared with the estimated 海角视频 market decline of 0.5%. We successfully grew market share, utilising the capacity created by our recent and continuing investment programme.”
Teesport’s strong performance also helped PD grow its operating profit by 6.6%, from £28.7m to £30.6m. However, profit after tax fell from £12.9m to £7.6m.
Employment numbers rose slightly to 1,247, resulting in a £2.3m increase in the company’s staff costs.
The company accounts also revealed that the number of accidents at PD increased by more than 25% last year, with the total number rising from 27 to 24. Despite the increase in minor accidents, the company said that its lost time injuries frequency rate fell by 36%.
Looking forward, PD said that Brexit posed a risk to its business, though it attempted to downplay its potential impact.
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The firm said: “The group’s directors have included the consideration of the potential impacts of Brexit upon the group’s businesses as an agenda item on its meetings since before the referendum on the subject in June 2016.
“The key risk to the group would be any long-term changes to internal and external demand for goods and any consequent changes to established supply chains that consequently reduced volumes passing through its facilities.
“After taking into account these key risks and the possible outcomes of the continuing withdrawal process, the group’s directors do not expect that Brexit will have a material impact on the group’s ability to continue to trade successfully under its current business model.”
PD signalled expansion plans last summer after it secured a £90m funding package.
The company recently launched a dedicated freight service from Teesport to Doncaster to provide logistics services for Swedish furniture firm Ikea.