Economic importance of the Flemish maritime ports: Report 2002

4.2.5 Financial ratios (private companies)By clusterTABLE 22RATIOS BY CLUSTERClustersReturn on equity after tax(in p.c.)Liquidity in broad senseSolvency(in p.c.)2000 2001 2002 2000 2001 2002 2000 2001 2002Maritime cluster ............ 0.3 2.0 3.7 1.0 1.0 1.0 48.1 47.2 49.1Non-maritime clusterWholesale trade .......... 27.7 3.4 - 7.4 1.0 0.8 0.7 32.6 35.6 35.7Industry........................ 8.6 1.4 - 7.1 0.9 0.9 0.9 35.0 33.8 30.5Logistics services ........ 6.6 5.0 - 10.2 1.8 1.8 1.3 70.6 70.7 70.2Transport ..................... 2.2 1.7 - 10.2 1.0 1.1 1.0 34.2 30.6 28.7Weighted average ......... 8.9 3.3 - 7.6 1.1 1.0 0.9 47.0 46.2 41.8Source: NBB. A remarkable feature at the port of Ghent is the fact that the net return achieved by companies at the portturned negative in 2002, which should be seen in terms of an overall negative result in the non-maritimecluster. Table 23 gives further information, particularly for the two most important segments at the port,industry and wholesale trade; The slowdown in liquidity continued in 2002. Net working capital turned negative overall. Although this ratioremained constant in maritime companies (the realisable and available assets being equivalent to the shorttermliabilities) and industry, an appreciable decline in logistics services was seen, with a lesser decline in theremaining two segments; Solvency, which was relatively stable in 2001, declined by more than 4.3 p.c. in the following year. Industrywas largely responsible for this result, which is analysed in greater detail in table 23.By sector Results in 2001 for the metal-working industry had already been unsatisfactory and this trend became moreacute the following year, when it showed a negative return of - 29.7 p.c. (table 23). The large fall in this ratio isattributable to Sidmar, whose losses peaked in 2002 at 301.1 million euro with a fall in equity capital. Theselosses arose from a reduction in value of the financial fixed assets following integration of the company intothe Arcelor group. Its profitability ratio (return on equity) therefore declined to - 35.6 p.c., while it wasstill - 9.4 p.c. in 2001. The position of this company, which employed 5,792 workers in 2002 and whose VAwas 616.0 million euro, goes a long way towards explaining the negative average profitability of companies atthe port of Ghent. This ratio also turned negative for the other industries such as Stora Enso Langerbrugge,whose losses approached 26.6 million euro in 2002 following depreciations generated by large-scaleinvestments made the previous year. It should be noted, even if it is hardly significant, that the oil sectorreturned to positive territory in terms of profitability, a development due to favourable results at Adpo - Ghent; The liquidity of logistics services, and in particular of other services, was marked by a significant decline.Volvo Treasury Europe Coordination Center and Sidmar - Stahlwerke Bremen were two examples of thosecompanies whose debts of up to one year increased in 2002 because of a cash deficit. Net operating capital inthe oil industry turned positive again in that year, following the significant fall in Adpo – Ghent's short-termdebts; In 2002, the decline in solvency affected industry above all, in particular metal-working and electronicsindustries. In the former, Sidmar saw this ratio decline from 36.4 to 30.4 p.c., mainly due to losses carriedforward, which were partly offset by writedowns as part of the integration into the Arcelor group. In the latter,equity capital in GE Power Controls Belgium continued to decrease (own funds negative because of lossescarried forward). Although the shipping companies sector was of minor importance at Ghent, its solvencyalmost quadrupled, particularly following the increase in self-financing capacity of companies such asNBB WORKING PAPER No. 56 - JUNE 2004 41