Irish Continental Irish Continental Group Plc : Trading Update

TIDMICGC

TRADING UPDATE

Volumes (Year to date, 5 November 2016)

2016 2015 Change
Cars 372,500 361,500 +3.0%
RoRo Freight 241,200 229,700 +5.0%
Container Freight (teu*) 260,900 247,700 +5.3%
Terminal Lifts 245,300 206,400 +18.8%

*teu: twenty foot equivalent units

Irish Continental Group (ICG) issues this trading update which covers
carryings for the year to date to 5 November 2016 and financial
information for the first ten months of 2016, i.e. 1 January to 31
October with comparisons against the corresponding period in 2015. All
figures are unaudited.

Consolidated Group revenue in the period was EUR280.2 million, an
increase of 1.6% compared with last year. Net debt at the end of October
was EUR25.6 million compared with EUR44.3 million at 31 December 2015.

Ferries Division

Total revenues recorded in the period to 31 October amounted to EUR181.8
million (including intra-division charter income), a 2.5% increase on
the prior year.

For the year to 5 November, Irish Ferries carried 372,500 cars, an
increase of 3.0% on the previous year. In the period since 30 June car
carryings increased by 1.0% compared with the same period last year, the
lower rate of growth reflecting event driven traffic flows in the prior
year. Freight carryings for the year to 5 November were 241,200 RoRo
units, an increase of 5.0% compared with 2015. In the period since 30
June carryings grew at 4.1% which due to operational issues
underperformed underlying market growth rates which have been comparable
with the first half of the year.

The Euro value of the division's Sterling originating revenues have been
affected by weaker Sterling but this has been partly mitigated by
offsetting improvement from Sterling based costs. Fuel costs continue to
benefit from lower global fuel prices compared to the previous year.

The ropax ferry MV Kaitaki remained on charter, operating in New Zealand,
while the four container ships acquired in late 2015 were fully deployed
in the period.

As previously announced the charterer of the HSC "Westpac Express",
exercised their option to extend the charter for a further period of up
to 12 months to October 2017. The charter is subject to usual US
government procurement regulations and the charterer has further options
to extend the charter up to mid 2021.

The construction of a new cruise ferry announced on 31 May 2016 remains
on schedule for delivery in May 2018.

Container and Terminal Division

Total revenues recorded in the period to 31 October amounted to EUR105.0
million, a 5.7% increase on the prior year.

For the year to 5 November container freight volumes shipped were up
5.3% on the previous year at 260,900 teu, with the rate of growth
slowing to 2.5% in the period since 30 June reflecting market trends.

Units handled at our terminals in Dublin and Belfast increased 18.8%
year on year to 245,300 lifts, principally attributable to increased
throughput at the Belfast terminal in the first half of the year. This
reflects the award of the concession to operate the larger combined
container terminal at the Belfast Victoria Terminal 3 which commenced in
June of the prior year. In the period since 30 June with comparable
operations the terminal throughput was 2.2% lower reflecting changes in
customer schedules.

The effect of a weaker Sterling is not significant in the Container and
Terminal Division due to the low level of net Sterling exposure.

Dublin

14 November 2016

Enquiries

Eamonn Rothwell, CEO, +353 1 607 5628

David Ledwidge, CFO, +353 1 607 5628

This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf
of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely
responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information
contained therein.

Source: Irish Continental Group plc via Globenewswire

http://www.icg.ie/

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 14, 2016 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)

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