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A 6 per cent rise in trade helped Port of Tauranga to lift its half-year net profit 10 per cent to $22.5 million.
The company said yesterday total trade for the six months to the end of December was up 6 per cent, compared with a year earlier, to 6.94 million tonnes. Container volumes were also up 6 per cent to 289,600 20ft-equivalent units (TEUs).
Among items to show increases were log exports, up 26 per cent, sawn timber exports, up 9 per cent, wood pulp exports, up 18 per cent, frozen meat exports, up 13 per cent, bulk liquid imports, up 25 per cent, coal imports, up 48 per cent, and palm-kernel imports, up 87 per cent on the previous year.
A fully imputed interim dividend of 9c a share had been maintained.
Chairman John Parker said 2009 would be challenging.
"We don't really know the extent of the challenges but will ensure we are well prepared for them. It remains very difficult to accurately forecast the remaining half of this financial year, with our customers not having much visibility on demand outlook, but at this stage we expect to post a full-year result similar to last year's earnings."
Costs had been reduced, but the port was not shying away from investing for future growth, Parker said.
The company had just bolstered its strategic landholdings by a further 4.4ha, through an agreement with Carter Holt Harvey.
That brought total landholdings to 185ha, of which 13.7ha were bought during the past 12 months.
Resource consent applications would be lodged to dredge harbour channels and sitting basins to 14.5m draught in the next few months, while a new ship-to-shore gantry crane would be commissioned in July.
Chief executive Mark Cairns said the company's increasingly diverse trade mix was relatively defensive, and it was pleasing to see a strong increase in forestry cargo in the past month.
Shares in the port, 55 per cent-owned by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, closed yesterday at $5.30, up 15c.
- NZPA
