Irish Continental Group (ICG) posted group revenues of €197.8 million for the first nine months of 2009, down from €265.5 million for the same period a year earlier.
The country’s largest ferry company said Ebitda for the nine months was €41.7 million compared to €55.9 million for the same period in 2008 while operating profit fell from €37.5 million to €24.1 million over the year.
Operating profit for the first six months of the year was €7.1 million, down from €17.3 million. However, the comparative results in 2008 include €3.8 million profit in respect of the sale of the MV Normandy.
The company said that at the end of September 2009 net debt stood at €30 million, down from €48.5 million in June, the lowest level of debt since 1993.
Passenger numbers in the period from July to October rose 1 per cent to 643,000, the company said.
Cars carried rose 2 per cent at 171,000, while RoRo freight volumes fell 16 per cent at 66,000 units. Container freight volumes for the same period were down 19 per cent at 143,000, while units lifted at our ports declined 18 per cent to 59,000.
In the year to the end of October, passengers carried fell 4 per cent at 1,264,000, while car numbers were down 2 per cent at 330,000.
In addition, RoRo freight volumes declined 20 per cent at 165,000 units while container freight volumes were 27 per cent lower at 330,000 and units handled down by 25 per centat 137,000.
“The economic environment remains challenging and the weakness of sterling against the euro remains an issue for the group,” ICG said in a statement.
“Freight volumes continue to reflect subdued trading activity while passenger and car volumes have remained more resilient and have responded favourably to our marketing initiatives,” it added.
