Santos Brasil closes Q416 with an 8.3% operational growth

São Paulo, February 15, 2017 - Santos Brasil closed the fourth quarter of 2016 with an 8.3% growth in operated volume and a total 267,983 containers handled at its three terminals - Santos (São Paulo State), Vila do Conde (Pará State) And Imbituba (Santa Catarina State). The increase was 10.5% year over year, especially due to the performance of the Vila do Conde and Santos terminals. The Company once again exceeded the volume of one million containers handled in the year, which was last recorded in 2013.

At Tecon Santos, the largest and most efficient container terminal in South America, 242,660 containers were handled in Q416, a volume 5.5% higher than in Q415. The company´s market share in the port of Santos reached 41.6% in the period (compared to 37.9% in Q415). The operation in the Santos complex showed an increase in the handling of long-haul containers with imports and exports growing 4.3% and 8.0% respectively in the last quarter of the year.

Due to the volume increase from two navigation services operating on routes to the West coast of South America and to Africa who began mooring at the terminal in late 2015, as well as the increase in average consignment from joint navigation services to which new ship owners have been added, the volume of containers handled at Tecon Santos grew by 9.0% in 2016.

Tecon Vila do Conde, in full expansion, handled 19,007 containers in Q416, a volume that exceeded its performance in Q415 by 74.1%. Accumulated growth was 46.1%, with 65,786 containers handled. Since the end of January last year, the mooring of two shipping services operating on routes to Europe and the Caribbean has boosted long-haul operations in the Pará terminal, which grew 58.4% in Q416. Stimulated by the arrival of empty containers that were later stuffed and exported, coastal navigation traffic also increased by 105.6% in the period.
Tecon Imbituba recorded a 1.2% decline in container handling in Q416, still impacted by the termination of a navigation service operating on the Gulf of Mexico route. However, coastal navigation operations - currently the terminal¿s main type of cargo - grew by 12.4% in the last quarter.

In Santos Brasil´s services mix, long-haul import, export and transshipment operations recorded a 6.2%, 10.7% and 6.6% growth, respectively. Coastal navigation operations had their share lowered to 23.3% of the total handled (24.0% in Q415), as well as transshipment operations, which share was reduced from 31.2% in Q415 to 29.4% in Q416. Driven by the gain in market share in Santos and the increase in retention rate, bonded warehousing operations showed a 21.4% growth in the port container terminal segment.


Financial Indicators
Santos Brasil´s adjusted consolidated net revenue totaled R$ 212.0 million in Q416, in a 0.9% growth over Q415. Year to date totaled R$ 840.0 million, in a 7.7% decrease compared to 2015. Gross revenue from port operations grew 6.5% in 2016, excluding the amount related to the provision reversal that occurred in 2015.

EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) in Q416 adjusted for non-recurring effects was R$ 31.3 million, with a 14.3% margin. In 2016, adjusted EBITDA totaled R$ 95.0 million with an 11.3% margin (R$ 195.8 million and a 21.7% margin in 2015). The Logistics segment once again showed a positive EBITDA in Q416 after the restructuring carried out last year, reversing the performance recorded in the last four quarters.

Santos Brasil was also able to reduce its loss in Q416 by 98%. Loss recorded in the last three months of 2016 was R$ 525 thousand, compared to R$ 28 million in the previous year. The company closed the period with a cash balance of R$ 192.6 million and a net debt of R$ 40.1 million, equivalent to 0.5 times the EBITDA of the last 12 months.