Hawaii’s largest ocean cargo transportation company, Matson Inc., earned a record profit last year despite fourth-quarter net income being a bit lower than the same quarter a year earlier.
Honolulu-based Matson announced Tuesday that it earned $103 million last year, up 46 percent from $70.8 million in 2014.
Matt Cox, the firm’s president and CEO, called 2015 an “exceptional” year.
“Financially, it was the best year in our history,” he said in a statement.
The surge in Matson’s profit came largely from picking up business between the West Coast and Hawaii due to a fumble by one competitor, and acquiring operations in Alaska from another competitor.
Matson acquired Horizon Lines’ Alaska service May 29, which led to its carrying 39,100 containers in that market over seven months last year compared with none the year before.
Matson also carried about 11,000 more Hawaii containers last year primarily due to Pasha Hawaii Transport Lines rearranging its service routes after having mechanical trouble with one ship it acquired from Horizon as part of purchasing Horizon’s Hawaii service last year in a deal linked with Matson’s Alaska expansion.
FOURTH-QUARTER NET
$26.2 million
YEAR-EARLIER NET
$27.8 million
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Some modest growth in Hawaii container volume driven by economic expansion also benefited Matson’s bottom line.
Total revenue for Matson grew by about $180 million, to $1.89 billion, last year from $1.71 billion the year before.
In the fourth quarter, Matson’s profit was $26.6 million on revenue of $495 million. That compared with a $27.8 million profit on revenue of $444 million in the same quarter the year before.
The fourth quarter included added revenue from picking up container and automobile shipments lost by Pasha, but operating income declined due to a 23 percent drop in Matson’s China container service volume, higher-than-anticipated expenses tied to the Alaska service acquisition, and other factors.
This year Matson forecasts it will produce operating income, which excludes interest expenses and taxes, that is modestly lower than what was achieved last year. The company said it expects a significant decline for its China freight rates under pressure from international carriers outstripping demand, higher costs for ship maintenance because of the Alaska service, and a loss in business in Guam, where a new competitor entered the market.
APL, a division of Singaporean-based Neptune Orient Lines, began serving Guam in January and competing with Matson, which had the market largely to itself after Horizon quit serving Guam in 2011.
These expected declines should be partially offset by factors that include a whole year of Alaska operations and a moderate increase in Hawaii container volume.
“The company believes that the Hawaii economy remains healthy and expects the continued progress of the construction cycle in urban Honolulu to generate modest volume growth,” Matson said in its earnings report.
Matson also noted that this year it won’t have an extraordinary legal settlement expense as it did last year because of the 2013 molasses spill in Honolulu Harbor. The company spent $13.3 million on the molasses settlement last year.
Shares of Matson stock closed Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange at $40.23 before the earnings report was released. Matson shares over the last 52 weeks have closed between a $35.70 low on Aug. 25 and a $52.82 high on Nov. 6. The company announced Nov. 4 that it intended to increase the value of its stock by repurchasing up to 3 million shares over three years. Through Monday, Matson has spent $18.8 million buying 460,500 shares at an average price of $40.90.
