Dubai port firm DP World profit rises 18 percent

DP World, the Dubai-based port operator, said Thursday its profit rose 18 percent last year as cargo volumes increased through its network.

The cargo handler said it earned $532 million in 2011, up from $450 million the previous year.

Adjusted earnings, which included gains from the partial sale of the company’s Australian business, were up 67 percent to $751 million.

DP World agreed to sell 75 percent of its Australian operations to an investment fund led by Citigroup Inc. for $1.5 billion in late 2010. The deal closed last March.

Sales for 2011 dipped 3 percent, to $2.98 billion, the company said. It attributed the decline to a change in how it accounted for the Australian ports.

DP World is the world’s third biggest seaport operator, with a heavy emphasis on fast-growing markets in the developing world.

CEO Mohammed Sharaf said that although the health global economy looks uncertain this year, DP World remains "confident about the long term outlook for our industry."

The company has operations at more than 60 sea cargo terminals on six continents, so its earnings offer a window on global trade flows. It runs Dubai’s immense Jebel Ali port, the Middle East’s busiest, and is building Britain’s first new deep-sea container port in more than a quarter century outside London.

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