Money grows on trees

Forest Research, the Government-owned forestry research institute, has announced net profit after tax of $2.738 million for the year to June.

This was up from $955,000 the year before.

But the Rotorua-based Crown Research Institute will not be able to enjoy its profit for long, as it must give $3 million to the Government's new Venture Investment Fund.

Chairman Brian Armstrong said though the result was a record for the institute, it was working in an industry that was "at the bottom of its economic cycle."

Forest Research earns about half of its income from research done for the private sector.

The rest comes from "public good" science funding.

The Venture Investment Fund is the Government's venture capital partnership with the private sector.

It is putting $100 million into the fund, some coming from the accounts of its Crown Research Institutes.

Mr Armstrong said that although the Forest Research contribution to the fund would mean a "significant increase in the company's level of borrowings", the institute's board was confident it would be offset by future growth in profitability.