Freightways, the courier and data management group, posted a 24 per cent gain in full-year profit, beating estimates, and forecast further growth in 2013 other than for its document destruction business.
Profit rose to $37 million in the year ended June 30, from $29.9 million a year earlier, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. Sales rose 8 per cent to $382 million.
The latest year was marked by a series of acquisitions that deepened Freightways' investment in data management, including the $13 million purchase of Iron Mountain New Zealand in October last year and the $8.1 million (including earn-outs) purchase of Filesaver in December. It acquired Australian document storage firm Metrofile in February for $900,000.
That helped make data management the fastest-growing part of Freightways' business, with sales climbing 21 per cent to $92 million and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation gaining 18 per cent to $21 million.
"As has occurred in 2012, we expect the Information Management division to deliver sound overall year-on-year earnings growth" despite costs to expand capacity and the impact of lower paper prices sold by its document destruction operations, the company said.