British port operator Forth Ports Plc posted a 19 percent rise in first-half profit but said trading in July and August had been below expectations amid a flurry of unexpected customer maintenance shutdowns.
"The effect of these shutdowns will result in piped cargo volumes being lower than expected in the second half," Forth Ports said in a statement on Monday, adding it expected a flat performance this year from its ports.
At 1005 GMT, Forth Ports shares, which have performed in line with the industrial transportation sector over the past 12 months, were down 4.7 percent at 1,759 pence to value the business at 802 million pounds ($1.5 billion).
The owner and operator of seven ports, including five on the Firth of Forth and Tilbury on the Thames, said it made a pretax profit of 12.9 million pounds in the six months to end-June on revenue up 14 percent to 72.2 million pounds.
Its ports business increased operating profit 8 percent to 14.7 million pounds on revenue up 9 percent to 68 million pounds. Operating profit from its property interests was 2 million pounds on revenues of 4 million pounds.
The interim dividend was raised 5 percent to 15 pence.
Investec Securities said in a broker note: "The statement regarding the ports division looks, at first glance, somewhat bearish, but most comments should only be short-term negatives, such as maintenance shutdowns. Forth Ports said it was looking at a deepwater cruise liner facility based outside its existing port in Edinburgh.
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