Northland Port mops up more engineering losses

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Tuesday 13th November 2001

Northland Port Corporation (NZSE: NTH) has taken a further hit from its Northport Engineering subsidiary but says it remains on target to post a profit of $4.2 million for the full financial year.

For the six months ended September the port company had a profit of $1.64 million, more than double last year's interim surplus of $785,000. Total revenue dropped to $10.36 million compared to last year's $19.35 million.

The company reports it had record cargo throughput with volumes reaching 989,000 tonnes for the six months compared to 777,000 tonnes for the corresponding period last year.

"Accordingly, the core business in Port Operations produced a strong financial result for the company. The unprecedented level of activity has however further highlighted the inherent limitations of the existing facilities at Port Whangarei," Northland Port says.

"Regrettably, despite an earlier directors' provision for the anticipated final loss from the "Asteri" contract, Northport Engineering incurred further losses of $1.3 million. The project is now complete and the company is in the progress of being progressively wound up."

Last year's losses on the subsidiary amounted to around $5 million.

The port company says construction of the new facilities at Marsden Point is progressing on time and within budget with the first vessel call at the new port scheduled for June of next year.

It also says earnings are on budget and "in the absence of unforeseen circumstances the year end result is expected to reach $4.2 million, which is in line with earlier projections

A previously announced ordinary dividend of 3.5 cents per share and a 5 cents per share special dividend will be paid at the end of next week.

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