Timber has continued to play an important role for Associated British Ports Holdings plc (ABP) which has announced 13% growth in underlying earnings per share for the six months ended June 30.
The company also reported a UK ports and transport operating profits of £74.2m compared to £26.2m last year, and group profits before taxation of £67m compared to £17.5m in 2004.
A £0.9m investment in an expanded timber terminal for Finnforest UK at Hull is almost complete and a £1.7m warehouse and distribution facility is being built at the Port of Swansea for RKL Plywood (UK).
ABP’s Port of Cardiff has also expanded its timber operations with Scandinavian and Baltic timber imports featuring strongly in the first six months of this year.
The buoyant Scandinavian log-export market also benefited the Ports of Ayr and Troon while the Port of Ipswich handled in excess of 300,000m3 of timber this year, in line with last year’s record-breaking volume of forest product imports.
Timber handling throughput is also developing strongly at the Port of Lowestoft and the Port of King’s Lynn.
Group chief executive Bo Lerenius said: “The continued growth of our core UK ports operations once again demonstrates the strength of building our business on long term contracts.
“These contracts, together with the group’s two major projects at the Port of Immingham which will become operational next year, give us confidence that we will continue to grow the UK ports business during the second half of 2005 and in 2006.”
