New Zealand courier and freight group Freightways today revealed a drop in profits for the yearending June 30, 2010, but higher second-half profits signalled an upturn in business.
Operating revenue of NZ$328.5 million (€181 million) was 2% lower than the previous year on anadjusted basis, but revenue rose 1% in the Jan-June second half of the year.
Full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and goodwill amortisation (EBITDA) of$63.7 million (€35 million) were also 2% lower, but 5% higher in the second half-year. Net profitafter tax (NPAT) of $28.9 million (€16 million) for the full year, before a $5.7 million abnormaltax charge, was 2% lower than last year, while H2 net profit was 4% higher.
Managing director Dean Bracewell said that despite a challenging domestic economic environment“this result demonstrates progressively improving Freightways performance in line with the gradualbut patchy recovery we are starting to see in the New Zealand marketplace, which isencouraging.”
The core Express Package & Business Mail division, which contributes about 80% of grouprevenue and earnings, gradually improved its performance as the year progressed. Revenues declined4% to $263.5 million, but were only 1% lower in the second half of the year. The division’sfull-year EBITDA was 5% lower at $48.9 million, but the H2 result was 3% higher than the previousyear.
Overall express package volumes were lower this year. Among the key successes were winningAustralia Post’s international inbound express mail, air parcels and courier product deliveriesinto New Zealand; and the launch of two innovative sub-brands – ‘STUCK’ positioned to satisfydemand for hard-to-deliver express freight jobs and ‘Pass the Parcel’ positioned to service TradeMe customers.
Bracewell said “that while overall volumes improved in recent months to be on a par with theprevious year and we are seeing some improvement, this is not yet the case across all thebrands.”
The Information Management division, now firmly established on both sides of the Tasman Sea,reported operating revenue of $66.2 million for the full year, 9% above the normalised previousyear figure with EBITDA up 12% at $15.5 million.
Looking ahead, Bracewell said that in recent years Freightways has strengthened its earningsprofile by diversifying its activities both geographically and deeper into the informationmanagement market. “We will continue to seek and develop growth opportunities to support thisstrategy and also explore other opportunities that complement our core capabilities.”
While below the result of the previous year, he said Freightways still “delivered a soundoperating result, demonstrating the resilience of the group, the positive features of the marketsin which it operates and performance in the second half of the year was particularly encouragingfor the year ahead.”
