Eastland Group posts 7.8% gain in full-year profit, lift dividend

Thursday 9th June 2016

Eastland Group, the community trust-owned company that runs Gisborne's port, airport and electricity distribution businesses, says full-year profit rose 7.8 percent, allowing it to pay a bigger dividend and plan for increased investments.

Profit rose to a record $15.2 million for the year ended March 31, from $14.1 million a year earlier, the company said in a statement. It didn't immediately provide details of the performance of its portfolio of businesses.

Eastland is owned by Eastland Community Trust, which was originally the Eastland Energy Community Trust set up in 1993 before being renamed in 2004. Its operations include Eastland Port, Gisborne Airport and Eastland Network, the electricity network for Gisborne, Wairoa and the East Coast, Eastland Generation, which produces electricity from hydro, diesel and geothermal plants, and a property development business. In December it emerged as an 11 percent shareholder in online electricity retailer Flick Electric after subscribing for about $2 million of stock

The company had assets of $422 million as at March 31, up from about $80 million in 2003, when it bought the port company. It paid the trust a fully-imputed dividend of $5.6 million in the latest year, up from $5 million in 2015, and interest payments on its capital notes of $2.1 million, down from $2.6 million the previous year. The trust subscribed for $30 million of the notes in April 2010.

“The businesses we operate require a large amount of up-front capital investment to earn returns over a long period of time," said chief executive Matt Todd. “Over the next five years Eastland Group plans to invest $123.5 million in local infrastructure.”

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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