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Tower's troubled but vital Australian operation is returning to profit

Friday 13th February 2004

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Tower's troubled but vital Australian operation is returning to profit.

Executives told shareholders at the company's annual meeting in Wellington that the Australian operation had returned to profit for the first quarter of the current financial year.

Group managing director Keith Taylor told the meeting that investment returns had been positive so far this financial year, especially in December, and that Tower Australia is expected to make a profit for the current year.

Tower's loss of $149 million for the year ended September 2003 was mostly due to the poorly performing Australian operation and the asset write-downs and restructuring which that arm of the company had to go through.

Yesterday, ratings agency AM Best downgraded Tower to a bbb-minus rating, citing concerns about the Australian operation as the main reason for the drop.

Tower executives would not give any specific forecasts or targets of profits to shareholders - a stance which drew some criticism in the debate over a rise in directors' fees.

"I would be extremely reluctant to make anything like a projection," chairman Olaf O'Duill told shareholders.
"That creates all sorts of expectations."

However Turner said that investment returns had been positive so far this year, especially in December.

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