Guinness Peat Group sees year profits below 2001

By NZPA

Tuesday 10th September 2002

Guinness Peat Group, the investment vehicle of corporate raider Sir Ron Brierley, posted a higher net profit of Stg20.0 million ($NZ67.3 million) for the six months ended June.

That was up on last year's Stg12.3 million, on the back of the sale of shares in Inchcape Motors in Singapore, Brickworks in Australia and some smaller British holdings, Sir Ron said in a statement.

First-half pre-tax profit nearly doubled to Stg28.7 million from a restated figure of Stg15.2 million a year earlier.

GPG has been busier than expected in New Zealand during the period, he said.

GPG completed the acquisition of fruit exporter Enza in April prior to merging it with GPG's 45-percent owned Turners & Growers.

Turners & Growers' offshoot, Turners Auctions, is expected to float on the New Zealand Stock Exchange early next month,

GPG also played a key role in the recent drama over Fletcher Forests' failed bid for the Central North Island Forestry Partnership, after it acquired 20 percent of Forests' shareholder Rubicon.

"The future structure of these companies is a matter of some debate in which GPG is an active participant," Sir Ron said.

GPG's $67 million partial takeover offer for Rubicon was denied by the Takeovers Panel late last week.

The profitability of the GPG group was largely based on the income from interest and dividends and operating subsidiary profits, Sir Ron said.

GPG also has shareholdings in Australian companies such as Capral Aluminium (30 percent), and in the United States.

Sir Ron took another swipe at International Accounting Standards (IAS), criticised in the GPG annual report.

"... (It) has since become very topical after Enron and other US revelations.

"Although auditor `independence' provides a simplistic target for corporate `trendies', it is virtually irrelevant in reality.

"Competence and a return to commonsense standards are the real issues."

Sir Ron said the outlook for the rest of the financial year was positive, although it was unlikely that realised profits would reach the same level as in 2001.

The company reported a doubling of annual earnings in mid-March after selling three key investments.

GPG will not pay a dividend.

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