Irish Continental Group says that in the three months to the end of September it saw a 12% rise in operating profits to €19m on revenues of over €81m. There was also a 25% increase in earnings to €25m.
In an interim management statement, ICG said that its ferries division saw higher passenger numbers in the months from July to October (up 5.9%) and better yields, but continued weakness in its RoRo freight operations, which fell over 10% in the four month period.
ICG said that in the 10 months to the end of October its passengers numbers were up 8.9% to 1.37 million, but car numbers were down 1% at 326,300.
ICG added that RoRo freight volumes were down 10.4% on last year at 148,300 units, but its container freight volumes were 4.1% higher than the previous year .
The company said that the economic backdrop remains challenging with how the impact of the austerity measures in both Ireland and the UK will affect tourism and freight demand still uncertain.
'Nevertheless we have carefully managed our cost base and our operational capacity to continue to be able to compete profitably in this environment,' the trading statement added.
The company also said that its business is seasonally weighted towards the second half of the year, where normally a higher proportion of its operating profit is generated than in the first six months.
