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Storage terminal operator Royal Vopak has today confirmed that net profit attributable to owners of ordinary shares - excluding exceptional items - increased by EUR 800,000, or 0.25 percent, to EUR 326.1 million in 2016.

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose by 1 percent to EUR 558.4 million, up from EUR 555.5 million in 2015.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) also increased by 1 percent to EUR 822.3 million, having been EUR 811.5 million during the previous calendar year.

Earnings per ordinary share (EPS) were up EUR 0.01 to EUR 2.56 in 2016.

Vopak's worldwide storage capacity increased by 0.4 million cubic metres (cbm) to 34.7 million cbm during 2016; this was despite the completed divestments in the UK assets and Japan.

Discussing the results, Eelco Hoekstra, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Royal Vopak, said: "Our 2016 results show that we are on the right track in our pursuit of leadership in our industry. We operated the Group's network above 90 percent occupancy levels, accomplished better safety performance levels, higher customer satisfaction scores and an employee engagement score at par with high performance companies in the survey database.

"Following the outcome of our business review in 2014, we worked hard on the further alignment of our global network. As a result, we initiated a divestment program, which we finalized in 2016 with the sale of the development project in Dongguan (China) and the terminals in Japan. We also successfully completed the sale of our UK assets. At the same time, we executed our strategy in line with the updated portfolio criteria. In 2016, we started activities in Panama, expanded in the United Arab Emirates and opened a new LPG facility in Singapore.

"Vopak improved its EBITDA - excluding exceptional items - from EUR 763 million to EUR 822 million in the 2014-2016 period despite the missing contributions of the divested terminals. This has positively impacted our EPS development from EUR 2.31 in 2014 to EUR 2.56 in 2016, making it possible to raise dividend for two consecutive years, while maintaining financial flexibility to set direction towards further growth."

Commenting on current and future projects, Hoekstra said: "We are currently developing new projects in among others Panama, Houston and announced today to double our capacity in South Africa. We also aim to expand our business through regasification assets as indicated with the Exmar transaction."

In its outlook for this year, the company said: "For 2017, we are confident that Vopak will again achieve an average occupancy rate of at least 90 percent. We expect to make additional investments in disciplined capacity growth, technology and innovation projects and replacement of IT systems to drive productivity improvements. The majority of these investments will contribute to the results in the period 2019 and beyond. Taking into account the timing difference of the to be realized efficiency benefits and the missed contributions from divestments in 2016, we expect that the 2017 EBITDA will not exceed the 2016 result."

Between 2017 and 2019, Vopak believes it will be able to continue its growth journey and positive EPS development while maintaining a cash flow return on gross assets after tax (CFROGA) of between 9 percent and 11 percent.