Sickly Medihold hurts Nuplex profit

Another writedown on underperforming subsidiary Medihold has slightly lowered the December half-year net profit of listed chemical company Nuplex.

The now-Australasian company said its interim profit dropped 2 per cent or just over $200,000 to $9.4 million compared to the second half of 2001. A fully imputed dividend of 9.5c per share was declared, payable on April 4.

Nuplex said it remained on track to post a record year-end net surplus which would be more than 50 per cent higher than last year's full-year result of $12.6 million.

This was in spite of offshore earnings being significantly affected by the strong New Zealand dollar relative to Australian and US currencies, the company said.

Total operating revenue was higher at $318.4 million compared with $214.6 million in the corresponding period the year before.

But its operating surplus was hit by higher tax and a decision to write down a further $2.9 million on the carrying value of poorly Australian subsidiary, Medihold.



All three of its markets - New Zealand, Australia and Vietnam - had contributed to its 48 per cent rise in sales revenue but the highest sales were made in Australia, where they rose 55 per cent.

A key factor was Nuplex's recent purchase, Asia Pacific Specialty Chemicals, which was exceeding original forecasts.

Sales in Vietnam rose 14 per cent to $7.7 million and New Zealand sales were up 32 per cent to $75.3 million. Australia contributes 74 percent of Nuplex's group sales.

- NZPA