2016 General Shareholders’ Meeting-The CLH Group will invest 122 million euros in 2016 to boost its business in Spain and further develop its international projects
- The company’s international operations in the Sultanate of Oman, the United Kingdom and Ireland are making good progress.
- The after tax profit for the first quarter of 2016 increased by 1.6%, nearly reaching 40 million euros.
José Luis López de Silanes, Chairman of the CLH Group, led the General Shareholders’ Meeting today and announced that the company will invest 122 million euros in 2016 to continue upgrading its facilities in Spain and developing its international operations in Oman, the United Kingdom and Dublin.
57 million euros of the total investments will be used for projects in Spain, where the company intends to make improvements to the operating and safety conditions at its plants.
Outside Spain, the CLH Group will invest 65 million euros in 2016 to continue developing its international projects. 25 million of the total 65 million euros will be invested in the new project the company has launched at the Dublin Airport, and another 17 million euros will be invested in the construction of a new oil product logistics system in the Sultanate of Oman.
CLH-PS, the company’s subsidiary in the United Kingdom, intends to invest 23 million more euros in its infrastructure modernisation programme this year.
International Expansion Plan
During the General Shareholders’ Meeting, López de Silanes gave a detailed explanation of the progress the company is making with its on-going international business projects.
In 2015, Orpic Logistic Company (OLC), the company created by CLH and the Omani firm Orpic, started construction on the Muscat-Sohar pipeline, which will be 290 kilometres long, and the new storage facility, which will have a capacity of 170,000 cubic metres. The construction is progressing according to schedule, and the new infrastructure is expected to be ready for operation by 2017.
In 2015, the CLH Group acquired and took over management of the GPSS pipeline network, which formerly belonged to the British Ministry of Defence. In order to operate this network, consisting of 2,000 kilometres of pipeline and 16 storage facilities with a capacity of over one million cubic metres, the company formed the new company CLH Pipeline System (CLH-PS), which has been in operation since 1 May 2015, with headquarters in London.
In 2016, the CLH Group presented the winning bid for the Dublin Airport Authority’s (DAA) request for tenders to operate the fuel storage terminal at the Dublin Airport for a period of 20 years. The contract also involves renovation this infrastructure, including the expansion of the plant’s capacity and construction of a new hydrant system.
An investment of over 40 million euros is planned for the 2016-2018 period. The idea is to start up the new infrastructure progressively until it is all completely finalised in a period of three years.
Changes in the shareholding structure
The Chairman of the CLH Group also reviewed some of the most important events of last year, including significant changes to the company’s shareholding structure resulting from the voluntary exit of oil operators and the entry of new shareholders, whom he welcomed and thanked for the trust they have placed in CLH.
López de Silanes highlighted that “CLH has entered a new phase with a new shareholding structure, which will allow us to boost sustainable growth over the next few years.”
Another important event that occurred in 2015 was the exclusion takeover bid launched by the company over 0.85% of its shares listed on the stock exchange, which was accepted for 0.61% of CLH’s total capital, meaning that only 0.24% of the company’s capital remains in the hands of minority shareholders.
2015 Financial year
The Chairman of CLH presented the company’s activities and results in 2015. During this year oil product deliveries from CLH’s facilities in Spain totalled over 42.2 million cubic metres.
In addition to this increase in activity, new services being offered and the consolidation of the results of the British subsidiary CLH-PS have led to an increase in operating income by 13.5% compared to 2014, reaching 653.1 million euros. Operating expenditure also increased by 17.7%, mainly due to the aforementioned consolidation of CLH-PS and the increase of activity in Spain.
As a result, EBITDA grew by 7.8% compared to 2014, reaching 339 million euros. In total, the CLH Group’s after tax profit was 174.2 million euros, 11% more than the previous year.
The company made nearly 210 million euros in investments in 2015. 60 million euros of this total amount was invested in maintenance and improvement projects for the company’s infrastructure in Spain, including the start-up of a new facility at the Port of Bilbao and the adaptation of the plant in Algeciras to provide blending services.
Outside Spain, the CLH Group invested over 150 million euros, primarily for the purchase of the UK’s main pipeline network, as well as other investments in the British market and Oman.
In 2015, the average price of the company’s logistics services was less than one cent euro per litre, which is approximately 0.8% of the end prices for automotive diesel oil and 0.7% of the price of 95 octane gasoline paid by consumers.
Furthermore, since 1 January 2016, the prices of logistics storage services decreased by 0.6%, following a two-year period without any variations.
Corporate Social Responsibility
In 2015, the CLH Group continued to reinforce new Corporate Social Responsibility activities aimed at attending to the needs of its stakeholders. The company renewed its seal from the Másfamilia Foundation as a family-responsible company, in recognition of its efforts to create a positive working environment and its commitment to the United Nations Global Compact and Diversity Charter.
In terms of the environment, CLH approved a new biodiversity policy and renewed its EMAS certification in six of its facilities.
This has all contributed to the CLH Group receiving important recognition from different national and international organisations, such as the Silver Class Seal from the agency RobecoSam, which awarded the company the second best score in the world in terms of sustainability for companies engaging in transport and storage activities in the petroleum and gas industry.
The High Commissioner for the Government for Marca España and the Club for Excellence in Management appointed CLH as an Ambassador of European Excellence, in order to help disseminate the excellence of Spanish organisations around the world.
Results for the first quarter of 2016
López de Silanes announced that the CLH Group obtained a net profit of nearly 40 million euros in the first quarter of 2016, 1.6% more than the same period last year.
Operating income was over 160 million euros, 16.1% more than the same period in 2015, due to the increase in activity in Spain and, more importantly, because this figure includes data from CLH-PS that was not included in the first quarter of 2015. The same is true in the case of operating expenditure, which increased by 28.2%, to approximately 103 million euros, since the comparison does not account for CLH-PS in the 2015 figures. Consequently, EBITDA increased by nearly 3%, for a total of 80 million euros.
In terms of activity, deliveries of oil products from CLH facilities in Spain reached 10.4 million cubic metres from January to the end of March in 2016, 1.2% more than the same period last year.
Other resolutions from the General Shareholders’ Meeting
The CLH General Shareholders’ Meeting held today also approved proposed resolutions regarding various points on the agenda, including approval of the annual accounts and the company and group’s management report, in addition to the distribution of a dividend of nearly 35 million euros, for a total of over 168 million euros when added to the interim dividend that was already distributed.
The General Shareholders’ Meeting also approved relevant resolutions regarding the ratification, appointment and re-election of board members and auditors.