KEY POINTS:
Fisher & Paykel Appliances today reported its March year net profit fell 4.3 per cent to $61.2 million.
The company, which hit the headlines last month after it announced it was transferring part of its local manufacturing operations to Thailand, reported sales rose 20 per cent to a record $1.29 billion.
Sales excluding the acquisition of Elba SpA were up 7.9 per cent.
It declared a final, imputed, unchanged dividend of 9 cents per share to be paid on June 15.
The result includes restructuring costs of $4.4m and an unexpected bad debt write-off of $2.312m following Australia's Retravision (NSW) going into receivership in October last year.
These were offset by the profit on the sale of surplus land in Australia of $5m.
The purchase of Elba in June 2006 was a major step in the company's push for expansion into European markets, chief executive John Bongard said.
The Finance Group contributed an increased operating profit of $29.2m, boosted by the integration of Farmers Finance.
F&P Appliances shares were down 5 cents to $3.77 shortly after the result. They have fallen from $4.18 a year ago.
- NZPA
