Posted By Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on February 19, 2025
By Alban Kacher and Anna Peverieri
(Reuters) - Dutch tank storage company Vopak said on Wednesday it expected its 2025 core profit to remain broadly at last year's level, supported by strong demand for infrastructure services across most of its business areas.
Vopak, which operates terminals and storage facilities for fuels and chemicals worldwide, expects its proportional earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to land between 1.15 billion to 1.20 billion euros this year.
The proportional EBITDA rose 9% to 1.17 billion euros ($1.22 billion) in 2024, in line with its earlier guidance.
"Gas terminals performance showed firm throughput levels, backed by growing energy demand and energy security considerations around the globe," Vopak said in a press release.
However, negative one-off effects caused its proportional EBITDA to fall by 17 million euros in the fourth quarter compared to the third, affected by persistent technical issues at one of its LNG terminals in the Netherlands.
Vopak also flagged a negative market outlook for imports of clean petroleum products into Mexico due to changes in local legislation in the second half of 2024. That resulted in an additional impairment of 58.2 million euros in the fourth quarter.
The group's annual sales rose 4% to 1.32 billion euros, just below analysts' average forecast of 1.33 billion euros in an LSEG poll.
Vopak also said it would launch a share buyback programme of up to 100 million euros on Thursday, to run until the end of 2025, and propose a dividend of 1.60 euros per share, citing strong cash generation.
($1 = 0.9561 euros)
(Reporting by Alban Kacher and Anna Peverieri in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi)
