Growth-market strategy delivers divergent returns for DP World

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Dubai’s DP World, the third largest container terminal operator, this morning announced 2013 result which beat most analysts’ predictions and delivered some $604m of profit to the company. However, it was not all plain sailing. While its strategy of selling off non-core assets in Australia appears to have paid off, its focus on the emerging markets of Asia-Pacific is not without its challenges and revenue from the region declined by 22.2% – partly this was due to the sales of some assets in which it held minority stakes, but it is also the result of weaker-than-expected volumes and currency depreciation.