Port of Tauranga forecasts profit of $79-83 mln for 2017

Thursday 20th October 2016

Port of Tauranga expects full-year earnings in the range of $79 million to $83 million, an increase on the $77.3 million reported for 2016, according to a transcript of a speech published to the NZX.

Chief executive Mark Cairns told shareholders at their annual general meeting that the forecast was given on the assumption that there would be no significant change to market conditions.

The prediction would bring the port's profits back into line with the $79 million achieved in 2015. It had forecast a profit of $79.8 million for 2016, a forecast it missed.

Shareholders in the Mount Maunganui-based company were told that it had been a "reasonably positive" start to the financial year, with trading up 5 percent, log volumes up 16 percent, dairy up 12 percent and container volumes rising by 3 percent.

Parent net profit after tax was up 10 percent and group net profit after tax rose 6 percent on the previous corresponding period.

Mark Cains told his investors that "we expected to handle more than one million Twenty-foot equivalent units in the full year ending June 2017, and expect to see log exports recover to 2015 levels." Log volumes fell by more than a million tons in 2016.

Chairman David Pilkington repeated his criticism of a Ports of Auckland proposal to build a new mega-port on the Firth of Thames to accommodate cargo growth over the next few decades.

"We have seen no economic justification for this idea, nor have we been privy to the assumptions that led to it. Ultimately we believe the market will drive any rationalisation required" he said.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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