Evergreen posts steady profit despite volatile market

Listed forestry company Evergreen Forests has announced a profit of $3.54 million for the six months to December last year, almost unchanged from the same period the previous year.

Chief executive Mark Bogle said the steady result was a good one, as the log market had been volatile in the past year.

He said the company hoped to record a similar operating profit for the second half of the year.

Evergreen's profit was earned from operating revenues of $11.2 million, down 35 per cent from the corresponding six months the year before.

Chairman Peter Wilson said that a little over 22 per cent of the shares traded on the market had been bought by Evergreen since it began its buyback scheme in August last year.

Evergreen, shares in which are traded on both the New Zealand and Australian Stock Exchanges, owns cutting rights for 21,000ha of pine plantations in Northland, South Auckland, the East Coast and the West Coast of the South Island.