CP Ships Has Good 1Q; Rich Named New Chairman
CP Ships Limited announced unaudited operating income of $29 million for the first quarter 2005, more than double first quarter 2004. Net income was $15 million against $3 million. The quarterly dividend has been increased from $0.04 to $0.06 per share. The Board of CP Ships Limited also announced that it intends to appoint Nigel Rich as non-executive Chairman. It also confirmed that Ray Miles will continue to exercise overall executive responsibility as acting Chief Executive Officer until the appointment of a new CEO. "I am delighted that Nigel has agreed to become Chairman. We will benefit greatly from his experience," said Ray Miles. "And I will support him and the company fully until I step down as a director of CP Ships after a new CEO is on board, " said Ray Miles.
Behrendt Appointed Chairman of CP Ships
In the context of the acquisition of the British-Canadian shipping line CP Ships by TUI AG, Michael Behrendt, chairman of the executive board of Hapag-Lloyd AG, was appointed chairman of the board of CP Ships on November 7th. At its meeting in Toronto, the board of directors also appointed Rainer Feuerhake, CFO of TUI, a member of the board following the resignations of Nigel Rich (chairman) and Viscount Weir. TUI, the parent company of Hapag-Lloyd, holds 89 percent of the shares in CP Ships and intends to take it over entirely by amalgamation of the shipping lines by the end of 2005. Hapag-Lloyd will then have a total of 136 ships with an overall capacity of more than 400,000 TEU, making it the world’s fifth largest container carrier.
