NCSP Group January-September 2012 Turnover Rose 3.5% Y-o-Y

OREANDA-NEWS. October 22, 2012. Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port Group (“NCSP Group” or the “Group”) (LSE: NCSP, MICEX-RTS: NMTP) announces its consolidated operating results for January – September 2012.

NCSP Group’s total cargo turnover for the first nine months of 2012 increased 3.5% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 121.3 million tonnes.

NCSP Group CEO Rado Antolovic said: “Our cargo turnover performance for 9M 2012 remained higher year-on-year, with strong momentum from grain handling in September. The flexibility of our cargo base and universal nature of our port assets allowed the Group to offset the impact of volatile commodities markets and summer restrictions on railway deliveries to Novorossiysk Port, thus securing year-on-year growth. For example, strong growth in ferrous metals, cement and other cargos compensated for lower volumes of iron ore and mineral fertilizers. To further diversify the Group’s cargo base this August we started handling coal, which has been the major driver of turnover growth at Russian ports this year, increasing 10.3% y-o-y in 9M 2012. In order to capitalize on the fast growing container segment, the Group continues to implement its planned investments in expanding container terminal capacities in Novorossiysk and Baltiysk, which are both currently operating at full capacity.”

The transhipment of liquid cargo during the first nine months of 2012 increased by 2.4 million tonnes or by 2.4% year-on-year (y-o-y).

Crude oil handling in January-September 2012 totalled 85.4 million tonnes, which represents a modest increase of 1.3% y-o-y.

NCSP Group’s oil products handling volumes grew by a solid 7.2% y-o-y, reaching 13.9 million tonnes. This growth was mostly driven by increased diesel handling at the Primorsk Trade Port (up 603 thousand tonnes y-o-y).

In line with seasonal trends, the Group significantly increased grain handling volumes month-on-month in September 2012 compared to August 2012 (1,051 thousand tonnes and 744 thousand tonnes, respectively). As a result, total grain throughput in January-September 2012 amounted 6.4 million tonnes (an increase of 110.5% y-o-y).

In January-September 2012 the Group increased handling of ferrous metals by 21.1% y-o-y to 6.5 million tonnes and cement handling more than doubled compared to the first nine months of 2011, reaching 216 thousand tonnes.

Coal handling totalled 63 thousand tonnes since August 2012, when the Group started working with this cargo.

For convenience, information on NCSP Group's monthly cargo turnover is available in excel format on the company’s website and in the table below.

NCSP Group Cargo Turnover in January-September 2012 (thousand tonnes)