Landcorp, the country's biggest farming company, is poised to pay a fatter annual return to the Government after operating earnings beat forecast by almost two thirds on record milk production.
Landcorp will increase the full-year dividend to $20 million from the $15 million payment budgeted for, after "strong production and livestock product prices" boosted operating earnings, the company said in a statement yesterday. The improvement included record milk production of 13.3 million kilograms of milk solids.
The state-owned enterprise's operating earnings were about $27 million in the year ended June 30, "greatly improved" from the $16.3 million forecast, but down from $42.2 million a year earlier.
Landcorp will deliver total shareholder return of about $8.1 million, some $85.3 million below budget.
"This largely reflects static farmland values over the year and a decline in livestock values," it said.