Owens shifts focus as profit slumps

Transport company Owens Group said it was the hunting for new acquisitions as it announced an 80 per cent fall in first-half profit.

The company said it would make no interim dividend after posting a half-year result to September of $505,000 compared with $2.6 million last year.

Total revenue fell to $204.5 million from $220.9 million, and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) were $7.1 million compared with $10.4 million.

Chairman Norman Geary said the company had decided to focus on its core logistics and supply chain solutions business. At the moment, the company was too diverse and its business was not well understood by the market.

It was also considering divesting its non-core activities, and making acquisitions in its core areas of international freight forwarding, contract warehousing, road and other domestic transport, and shipping agency services throughout the Pacific.

One activity that might be considered non-core was Hirepool, a "high-performing and sizeable business that could be sold for full value", Mr Geary said. Any such sale would need shareholder approval.

Owens chief executive David Ritchie said there were several factors involved in the downturn, including a lag between the completion of several large logistics projects in Australia and the Pacific Islands and the start of new projects.

The board expected to declare a dividend for the full year, he said.

Mr Ritchie expected the full-year profit would be around the previous year's result, before taking into account surpluses from the sale of any non-core activities.

Shares in Owens Group slumped to a low of 75c, down 8c, compared with a year high of $1.46.

- NZPA