Peel Ports: Billionaire tycoon handed higher pay day despite profit slump
The billionaire family behind Peel Ports raked in even more money despite profit at Britain’s second largest operator being slashed during its latest financial year.
The Whittaker family shared a dividend pot of £153.9m with fellow shareholders in the Liverpool-headquartered group in the year to 31 March, 2024.
The dividend is up from the £138.9m Peel Ports handed out in the prior year.
New accounts filed with Companies House have also confirmed that a final dividend of £74.5m has also been proposed, a rise from £64.5m.
The increased pay day for shareholders comes despite pre-tax profit at Peel Ports being significantly cut from £397.3m to £141.6m in the year.
The new results also show that its turnover decreased from £696.3m to £693.7m over the same period.
Peel Port’s operations cover London, Liverpool and Glasgow. Its largest shareholder is Peel Group, a property business owned by the family of its chairman, the billionaire investor John Whittaker.
The Whittaker family holds a 68 per cent stake in the Peel Group, which owns 37.6 per cent of Peel Ports.
Peel Ports said its decrease in turnover “reflects revenue growth in the ports segment being offset by lower revenue in the shipping segment”.
It added that in that segment, revenue fell by 26.5 per cent “largely as a result of the normalisation of the higher charter and bunker rates seen in the prior year”.
The group also pointed to an increase in net capital expenditure from £135.2m to £208.5m while exceptional costs totalled £14.8m.
Its EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation] grew from £330.9m to £372.5m while its operating profit before exceptional items increased by 11.6 per cent to £254.6m.
Peel Ports added: “The strong results for the year demonstrate the group’s ability to continue to respond with agility to risks and opportunities in challenging markets.
“There are continuing economic uncertainties surrounding the continuing global effects of the war in Ukraine, though the fundamentals of the business are unchanged and the group is planning for further growth.”