Marsden Maritime lifts first-half profit 21% on rising Northport cargo volumes

Monday 27th February 2017

Marsden Maritime, which owns half of the Marsden Point-based Northport along with a marina, commercial facilities and land, lifted first-half profit 21 percent on increased cargo volumes going through the port.

Net profit rose to $5 million, or 12.17 cents per share, in the six months ended Dec. 31, from $4.1 million, or 10.03 cents, a year earlier, the Whangarei-based company said in a statement. Revenue gained 20 percent to $6.8 million, largely through a bigger return from its share of Northport, where cargo throughput rose 12 percent to 1.85 million tonnes. Log volumes were up 13 percent in a period when cheap shipping rates and resurgent Chinese demand supported forestry exports.

"The positive result was attributable to a combination of strong cargo growth at associate entity Northport Ltd and improved earnings from our other commercial operations," chief executive Graham Wallace said. "Although cargo volumes at Northport for the remainder of the current financial year are projected to be at a slightly lower level than that for the comparable period last year, we expect annualised throughput will still exceed that recorded in the 2016 financial year."

Marsden and Port of Tauranga each own 50 percent of Northport, and Marsden also owns 100 percent of Marsden Cove and Marina. The company itself is about 54 percent owned by Northland Regional Council and 19.9 percent by Ports of Auckland.

The company's property holdings nearly doubled its trading surplus to $540,000 on a 40 percent gain in revenue to $950,000, while its marina and commercial unit more than doubled earnings to $194,000 on a 31 percent gain in revenue to $926,000.

The board declared an interim dividend of 6.25 cents per share, payable on March 24. That's up from 5.5 cents a year earlier.

The shares gained 1.3 percent to $3.95, and have gained 41 percent over the past 12 months.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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