The Whittaker family shared a dividend pot of £153.9m with fellow shareholders in the Liverpool-headquartered group
News
Jon Robinson www.cityam.com
10:47, 03 Jan 2025Updated 10:48, 03 Jan 2025
Peel Ports Liverpool, Port of Liverpool. Photo by Colin Lane
Despite a significant drop in profits, shareholders in Peel Ports have seen their earnings increase. The Whittaker family shared a dividend pot of £153.9m with fellow shareholders in the year to 31 March, 2024, up from £138.9m the previous year.
Companies House records also reveal a proposed final dividend of £74.5m, an increase from £64.5m. This comes despite pre-tax profits at Peel Ports falling from £397.3m to £141.6m over the same period.
Turnover also decreased slightly from £696.3m to £693.7m. Liverpool-based Peel Ports operates in London, Liverpool and Glasgow, with its largest shareholder being Peel Group, a property business owned by the family of billionaire chairman John Whittaker.
The Whittaker family holds a 68% stake in Peel Group, which owns 37.6% of Peel Ports. The company attributed the decrease in turnover to lower revenue in the shipping segment, offsetting growth in the ports segment.
Revenue in the shipping segment fell by 26.5%, largely due to the “largely as a result of the normalisation of the higher charter and bunker rates seen in the prior year”, as reported by City AM.
Peel Ports has highlighted a surge in net capital expenditure from £135.2m to £208.5m, while exceptional costs amounted to £14.8m. The group’s EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation] climbed from £330.9m to £372.5m, with its operating profit before exceptional items up by 11.6% to £254.6m.
A Peel Ports spokesperson said: “The strong results for the year demonstrate the group’s ability to continue to respond with agility to risks and opportunities in challenging markets.”
They added: “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.”