Economic-Financial Situation

The recovery of the most conventional freight accounted for the greatest contribution to the year ending with positive figures, as both solid and liquid bulk showed growth of 2.92% and 2.96%, respectively. However, the new container and Ro-Ro traffic showed greater resistance to making up the ground lost during the pandemic and closed 2021 with negative values of between -3.84 and -2.42%. However, the still small share of that freight in the global calculation of the Port of Huelva cushioned the final effect of those slight losses of traffic.

The total amount invoiced stood at €46.21 million at year end, which meant it was therefore up 2.13% on the amount invoiced in 2020. Payment of rates and tariffs was nearly €1 million more in absolute value than in 2020. This rise in income was due both to the increase of traffic at year end, and to the application of RD26/2020 regarding measures for the economy to recover after COVID-19. That meant that a large part of those concessions that had requested aid in the  second half of 2020  had been settled at the start of 2021. Therefore, there were large amounts billed both in terms of Occupancy (+10.35%) and Activity (+12.00%) right from the start of the financial year.

The activity and occupancy rates amounted to €15.22 million for the year, 10.89% up on the €13.73 million billed in 2020, which offset the T3 downturn in billing (-2.76%) generated by 5% drop in the corrective coefficient and the increase in freight in transit, along with the reduction of the T4 Fresh Fish Charge (-72.25%), which was also down on 2020 due to the new concession of the fish auction unit, operational from February.

The increases in the rates from the concessions meant that the amount invoiced was up €1.5 million at year end on 2020, with this being the main reason for the increase in income.

The usage rates, which are more closely related to the port traffic, posted a 0.53% increase, up to €23.77 million compared to the €23.64 million in 2020. This circumstance was envisaged in the budgeted amounts and the invoicing remained at 10.32% over the reviewed forecasts for the year. The passenger fee was up 24.91, the T1 vessel fee rose by 6.90%, the T6 fee for special use of the transit zone increased 20.22%, compared to 2020.

The rest of the turnover, with earnings of €4.4 million were made up by income for tariff services, which dropped by 13.91%, due to the lower "Tariff for use of dredging areas" and the "Works Management and Inspection" fee that were particularly high in 2020 and was down €543,000 in 2021, due to the lower amount of works carried down, which dropped 29.65%.

In the Other Operating Income heading, which dropped slightly by 0.87%, "Sundry Services" was particularly significant and included the impact of the property taxes (IBI) and which were higher in 2020 due to receipts from previous years.

In addition to the above income, the Financial Income heading should be highlighted and which includes the income generated by the treasury positions, even though late interest and surcharges, deferrals and loans are also entered there. With respect to the first heading, they have been negatively affected by the drop in interest rates with which the financial entities remunerate their liabilities, as the result of the European Central Bank’s monetary policy to stimulate the European economy by seeking to inject more liquidity into the financial system, as that income had practically disappeared, with just €9,560.21 in 2021.

As regards the Operating Costs, including deprecation, they stood at €42.74 million, compared to €43.99 million in 2020, meaning a drop of 2.86%. This was mainly due to the Repairs & Upkeep heading, where major work was undertaken in 2020 to repair the promenade along the river estuary and to the railway due to a rail accident. Even though an increase was already beginning to be noted to these heading to cover the maintenance of the new works being handed over, the provision for customer insolvency also has to be taken into consideration and which was mainly focused on the concessionary of the Aqualon Shopping Mall, along with a drop of 6.36% in the Staff heading due to the drop in Other Social Costs headings.

With respect to the approved budget, the Staff Costs heading was down 10.37%, with expenditure falling by €1,047,981.48. The Other Operating Costs heading was down by 8.25% with expenditure falling by €1,635,094.87, with the smaller contracting of professional services to the tune of €930,233.91 and expenditure in the Other External Services being down by €413,241.88.

It should be noted that the interport compensation fund contribution was €1,303,000.00, while the amount received was €253,000.00, resulting in a net contribution of €1,005,000.00, which appear under Operating Costs.

The pre-tax result stood at €10.35 million in 2021, compared to €6.57 in 2020. However, taking into account the Corporation Tax provision of €3.42 million in favour of the Port Authority, after establishing tax return credits for future years, the final profit for the year stood at €13.77 million, compared to €9.45 million for the previous year.

The target annual return was 3.33%, slightly higher than the 2.80% of the previous year, after excluding the income and costs that distort the result, except for Corporation Tax.

The usual cash ratios show that there is an ample capacity to meet the debts, in particular, the immediate cash ratio to cover the current liabilities was 3.50, when the recommendable would be to place it between 0.5 and 1, where the available cash levels would be sufficient to meet liabilities in the short-term, without an unnecessary excess in order to avoid idle resources. Such a high ratio was due to the available cash being placed in the short term due to the low return on traditional financial products and given the uncertainty on the financial markets regarding the long-term conditions.

During 2021 where the resources from the operations stood at €23.47 million and a high volume in the implementation of works was maintained, the working capital fell by €21.68 million, remaining at a €111.37 million.

The ratio between operating costs and income in 2021 was 82.06%. In the coming years, and taking into account the depreciation of the new investments to be made, this ratio will tend to be over 100%. We therefore envisage that the EBITA will remain at similar levels throughout the years included in the Business Plan, thus guaranteeing financial stability.

With that in mind, it should be noted that the Balance Sheet provides a very robust equity and financial image. The Fixed Assets were fully funded using Equity and there is no indebtedness either in the long or the short term that does not result from the normal operating of the Company.

As regards the Liabilities, the net equity accounts for 95.16% of the total and given that the working capital is very healthy, the entity is easily meeting its payment commitments. In that regard, it should be noted that the Port Authority meets the average supplier payment period of 30 days established in the legislation to combat late payments. The average payment time was 2021 in 11.72 days.