NSW Ports Outlook Revised To Positive On Stronger Financial Metrics; 'BBB' Ratings Affirmed

SYDNEY (Standard&Poor's) Oct. 7, 2015--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it has revised its outlook on Australian landlord ports group's finance vehicle, NSW Ports Finance Co. Pty. Ltd. (NSW Ports) to positive from stable, and affirmed its 'BBB' corporate credit rating. We also affirmed the rating on NSW Ports' senior secured debt issues at 'BBB'. "The outlook revision is based on our expectation that NSW Ports' financial metrics will continue to improve, albeit at a marginally faster pace than we had previously expected," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Thomas Jacquot. NSW Ports' earnings for the year ended June 30, 2015 were marginally above our forecast. When combined with lower-than-previously expected interest costs thanks to the

...SYDNEY (Standard & Poor's) Oct. 7, 2015--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it has revised its outlook on Australian landlord ports group's finance vehicle, NSW Ports Finance Co. Pty. Ltd. (NSW Ports) to positive from stable, and affirmed its '###' corporate credit rating. We also affirmed the rating on NSW Ports' senior secured debt issues at '###'. "The outlook revision is based on our expectation that NSW Ports' financial metrics will continue to improve, albeit at a marginally faster pace than we had previously expected," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Thomas Jacquot. NSW Ports' earnings for the year ended June 30, 2015 were marginally above our forecast. When combined with lower-than-previously expected interest costs thanks to the debt refinancing undertaken in the past 12 months, our ratio of NSW Ports' funds from operations (FFO) to debt was stronger than we had expected for that year. In effect, even though we had expected improvement in the company's financial...

Ratings Action