KEY POINTS:
Farmer owned co-operative Livestock Improvement (LIC) yesterday announced a 23 per cent increase in "underlying net earnings" to $8.7 million in the year to May compared with $6.7 million the year before.
LIC's revenue was $132 million, up 18 per cent on $112 million on the previous year.
But its net tax-paid profit fell by almost the same percentage, from $19 million last year to $15.6 million.
Its total assets (land, buildings, bull and stag teams) were valued at $205 million compared with $179 million the previous year.
LIC chairman Stuart Bay said this was the first year the co-operative had used new international financial reporting standards (IFRS).
"One major impact of IFRS reporting is the requirement to revalue our elite bull and stag teams each year," he said.
This year it amounted to a $6.9 million gain in value after tax. Revising last year's accounts gave a $12.4 million revaluation gain, after tax.
"Underlying earnings, which is operating profit before bull and stag team revaluations, provide the most meaningful measure of performance," said Bay.
These revaluations would be both significant and volatile each year.
LIC has two classes of share and announced gross fully imputed dividends for the year of 10.4c (10c in 2007) per co-operative control share and 33.8c (25c) per investment share.
The rises represented a dividend yield of 10.2 per cent before taxation.
LIC sold record volumes of semen during the year, and there was also strong growth in farm automation, software and diagnostics.
But the company described the "crowning glory" of the year as the launch of "DNA-proven" semen which had been screened for useful traits when bulls were only 2 - three years earlier than in the conventional progeny testing programme.
Bay said it could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to farmers.
- NZPA
