Polaris Holding Report Profits Of $1.3 Million
Polaris Holding Company Limited – the parent company of Stevedoring Services — reported its financial results for the year ended March 31, 2018.
“The Company announced profits of $1.30 million or $1.10 per share [March 31 2017 [restated] – $1.36 million or $1.15 per share]. The year reflected a now consistent pattern of stability and success for the once beleaguered Company,” a spokesperson said.
Reflecting on the changes Warren Jones opined “We are not the company you read about and may remember from a half dozen years ago.
“That company had lost its way and by nearly every measure was in cardiac collapse. Today’s Stevedoring Services is a model for the country. We are a healthy, focused, customer-centric business and we anticipate a successful future ahead”.
“Since onboarding as Polaris’ CEO in January 2014, Mr. Jones has helped resurrect the Company, with Polaris growing its equity by $2.8 million in the past three years, moving its annual dividend up 60%, from $0.20 to $0.32, and steering the BSX trading price of its stock north 61%, from $3.11 to $5.00 per share,” a spokesperson said.
“Polaris’ evolution is more fully dissected in the Company’s annual report, which can be accessed here.”
When CEO Warren Jones was asked about Stevedoring Services’ terminal operating license which expires in February 2021, he said, “We believe we have been doing a solid job managing Bermuda’s Hamilton port; at least that is what the freight lines, our customers and our staff have been telling us. We are hoping for a long term renewal.
“I along with many others have put our hearts and souls into Stevedoring Services’ turnaround. Beyond just three consecutive years of financial success, Stevedoring Services has invested over $5.0 million in cranes and heavy equipment during the past 30 months to ensure the long term strength of the business.
“In fiscal 2018 we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a new computer operating system, and as aligned to the Board’s long term strategic plan, we have undertaken a blizzard of training and accreditation and certifications during this period. I believe it would be both a tragedy and an injustice for the company, the union, and Bermuda as a whole if that momentum was derailed.”
In speaking about the effect the America’s Cup had on the stevedoring company, Chair Cheryl Hayward-Chew writes “It was all but impossible for [Polaris] not to achieve a stellar fiscal 2018. With America’s Cup hitting Bermuda like a tsunami, it soaked prosperity into the island for well over 12 months, and pushed imports to levels never before seen.
“It would have been easy for [Stevedoring Services] to profiteer from this bounty, and to pump rates higher as it met an insatiable demand. Instead [Stevedoring Services] provided concessions, worked its weekend gate while waiving overtime, offered concessions on oversized America’s Cup containers, and contorted to prioritize the fast and steady flow of cargo.”
