Polaris Holding Company Ltd reported an annual profit of $1.3 million as America’s Cup-related cargo boosted revenue.
The parent company of Hamilton docks operator Stevedoring Services Ltd said revenue climbed by $968,000, or 8.8 per cent, to $11.92 million in the year ended March 31, 2018.
In its annual report, Polaris estimated that at least $750,000 of that increase was as a direct result of the America’s Cup pushing cargo volumes higher.
The increase in cargo also resulted in a surge in overtime costs, as employees worked around the clock to unload it. Polaris’s expenses climbed $1.02 million to $10.81 million, with payroll accounting for $690,000, or more than two-thirds, of the increase.
Polaris also restated results for the year ended March 2017, raising profit $140,000 to $1.36 million, due to a change in accounting for parts, which are now being treated as fixed assets amortised over a four-year period instead of as inventory items, as they were previously categorised.
Cheryl Hayward-Chew, chairwoman of Polaris, wrote in the annual report: “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 the company provided concessions, worked its weekend gate while waiving overtime, offered concessions on oversized America’s Cup containers, and contorted to prioritise the fast and steady flow of cargo.”