The CLH Group’s pre-tax profit grew by 15.2% and reached 99.9 million euros during the first half of 2014

• EBITDA rose by  8.0% to reach 148.8 million euros
• Investments in the period increased by 59.9%, totalling more than 23 million euros
• Oil product deliveries from CLH facilities in the first half of the year amounted to 19.4 million cubic metres

The turnover generated by the CLH Group in the first half of 2014 amounted to 245.9 million euros, 2.4% more than in the same period of 2013.

Recurring operating profit in the first half of 2014 amounted to 108.6 million euros, 12.3% more than in the same period of the previous year. Operating income increased by 3.2% while operating expenses fell by 2.2%.

In operating income, basic logistics was prominent with 222.9 million euros in the first half of 2014, showing an increase of 2.8% compared with the previous year, and earnings from consignments of gasolines and diesels stood out with an increase of 3.5%, while earnings from consignments of aviation products grew by 0.6%. Also, earnings from strategic and security storage increased by 1.1% and income from the receipt and storage of biofuels increased by 6.6%.

Distribution logistics experienced an overall increase of 0.8%. Earnings in the aviation sector fell by 0.3% and those in the marine sector increased by 4.7%.

The net result on financial operations stood at -8.3 million euros, compared with the -7.4 million euros recorded in the first six months of the previous year. This variance is mainly the result of the fact that the restatement of balance sheets carried out by the subsidiary Terquimsa during last year had a positive effect on results, improving them by 0.7 million euros.

Financial expenditure was maintained in similar terms, with a variance of just 0.1 million euros less. Average financial debt in 2014 has amounted to 739.3 million with a average debt cost of 2.45%, compared with the 761.7 million recorded in the first six months of 2013 with an average cost of 2.41%.

Non-recurring operating profit has not shown any significant change in the first half of 2014 compared with the same period of 2013, if we exclude the 2.6 million euros that  resulted from accrual of the single tax on balance sheet restatement that was carried out in 2013 by the companies forming the Group.

The corporation tax expense amounted to 27.4 million euros, 16.7 million more than in the same period of 2013, with 15.5 million of that amount being attributable to the tax impact caused in 2013 by the balance sheet restatement, on account of the higher future tax deduction on depreciation/amortisation.

All in all, the CLH Group after-tax profit in the first half of 2014 has amounted to 72.5 million euros, 4.6% less than the amount obtained in the same period of the previous year, due to the tax impact the balance sheet restatement carried out in 2013 has had on this six-month period.

Activity

Deliveries of oil products from CLH facilities in the first half of 2014 amounted to 19.4 million cubic metres, 0.2% more than those recorded last year.

In land sector products, which represent 82.5% of the total, withdrawals of automotive fuels increased by 2.0%, which reflects a moderate improvement in consumption. The remaining diesel fuels fell by 6.2% as a result of less consumption of heating oil.

On the other hand, deliveries of fuel oils, which represent 1.5%, have maintained their downward trend and have fallen by a total of 12.4%.

Deliveries of aviation products increased by 0.2% in the first half of 2014 compared with the same period of the previous year, as a result of heightened activity at airports during the second quarter of 2014 which was caused by the increase in tourism. Withdrawals of marine products fell by 0.2%.

The activity in transport resources, expressed in tons per kilometre travelled, experienced an overall reduction of 1.0%. Transportation by pipeline increased by 7.6% while transportation by tanker and tank truck fell by 33.5% and 12.0%, respectively.

Investments

Investments carried out in the first half of 2014 totalled 23.3 million euros compared with the 14.6 million euros recorded in 2013, this representing an increase of 59.9%.

Of this amount, 56.0% (13.0 million euros) were for investments made in storage facilities and airports, focusing mainly on implementing operational and safety improvements (10.2 million euros) and building new centres and expanding storage capacity (2.8 million euros); 18.2% (4.2 million euros) were spent on improving transport infrastructures, mostly the new pipeline connection between Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport and the San Fernando de Henares-Torrejón de Ardoz storage facility; 11.5% (2.7 million euros) were devoted to projects related to environmental protection; 8.0% (1.9 million euros) went to developing computer applications and purchasing machinery and equipment, while the remaining 6.3% was devoted to investments in international business projects.