FIRST CUT: Port of Tauranga posts 8.5% 1H profit gain as cargo picks up

Thursday 23rd February 2017

Port of Tauranga posted an 8.5 percent gain in first-half profit and raised its full-year guidance, saying both exports and import cargo volumes rose, including a rebound in the outbound log trade.

Profit rose to $41.9 million in the six months ended Dec. 31 from $38.6 million a year earlier, the Tauranga-based company said in a statement. Revenue climbed 2.8 percent to $125 million.

Container volumes at New Zealand's largest port rose 8 percent to 510,074 TEUs and the company said it was on track to handle more than 1 million containers for the first time in the full year. Log exports jumped 21 percent to almost 3 million tonnes, dairy exports rose 4 percent to 1.1 million tonnes and kiwifruit shipments rose 16 percent to more than 477,000 tonnes. That helped drive a 21 percent gain overall in export volumes while imports rose 7 percent. Port of Tauranga has dredged its harbour channels to accommodate the next generation of bigger ships.

The first-half results gave the company confidence to lift its guidance, saying full-year earnings would be at the upper end of its forecast range of $79 million to $83 million, an increase on the $77.3 million reported for 2016.

"With bigger ships calling at Tauranga, we are handling significantly larger volumes of cargo per shipments," said chief executive Mark Cairns.

The company will pay an interim dividend of 5 cents a share, up 8.7 percent from a year earlier after adjusting for the five-for-one share split last October.

Port of Tauranga shares last traded at $4.42 and have gained 26 percent in the past 12 months, outpacing a 15 percent gain in the S&P/NZX 50 Index.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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