Smit Profit...

Smit made a net profit for the period until 30 September 2009 of EUR 75.1 million including EUR 10 million from the financial settlement of the “Thunderhorse” project. The net profit shows a decrease compared with the corresponding period in 2008.

Harbour Towage Division
Harbour towage services and related maritime services.
During the third quarter, the number of towage movements recovered slightly compared with the first half of 2009. However, the operating result of the group companies were below last year’s level, in particular owing to a drop in revenues in the ports in Europe and Canada. The joint ventures, on the other hand, recorded a substantial growth. The result of in particular the SMIT Rebras joint venture in Brazil showed sharp improvement. The joint venture’s construction programme for 18 new tug vessels was completed, and 21 tugs are currently operational at 5 locations. The new joint venture in the Baltic, Towmar SMIT Baltic, has also contributed to the results since May 2009.
Tugs are being repositioned (within the Harbour Towage and Terminals Divisions) in order to improve the capacity utilisation. In addition, cost-cutting measures have been implemented in order to maintain the level of the profit margins.

Terminals Division
Towage services and related maritime and management services to offshore and onshore terminals The rise in the results of the Terminals activities continued during the third quarter of 2009. Both the group companies and the joint ventures realised sharp higher results than during the corresponding period in 2008. Two smaller contracts were concluded during the third quarter in India and Gabon. Also during the third quarter, the 25-year contract for an LNG terminal in Italy became operational. At this terminal the joint venture will deploy 4 tugs. The current terminal contract in Novorossiysk (Russia) will not be renewed.


Salvage Division
Salvage, wreck removal, environmental protection and consultancy
The workload during the third quarter of 2009 was greater than during the first six months of the year. The results for the period until 30 September are sharply higher than those for last year, owing to settlements for prior-year salvage operations. As reported previously the most important of these is the settlement for the “Thunderhorse” project from 2005 (net impact of EUR 10 million). Work on the “Pride Wyoming” in the Gulf van Mexico was completed. Until now the workload for the fourth quarter is below the historical average.

Transport & Heavy Lift Division
Transport: Chartering, barge rental, heavy transport and towage
Heavy Lift: Heavy lift activities, implementation of maritime projects, marine support and subsea activities The third-quarter results of the Transport & Heavy Lift Division were slightly below the results for the first six months of the year, the primary reason being that the vessels operating on the spot market generated lower returns. As a result, the accumulated results for 2009 are below last year’s level. The long-term Transport contracts generate a stable cash flow.

Owing to the currently unfavourable market conditions, the “Taklift 4” sheerleg is undergoing substantial modification during the latter half of the year to increase its capacity and extend its useful life. As a result of this and other factors, income from the Heavy Lift activities for the second half of the year will be below the level of the first six months.