KEY POINTS:
Listed stamp and collectable dealer Mowbray Collectables has posted a reduced half-yearly net surplus of $30,500, compared to $43,000 a year earlier.
But net profit from operations for the six months to September 30 was up 20.4 per cent to $315,000 on the corresponding period in 2005, Mowbray reported today .
Amortisation was again a significant and additional cost at $284,400, from $218,400 a year ago, the company said.
It included goodwill on investments in Auckland's Peter Webb Galleries, in which Mowbray has a 49 per cent holding, and Sydney-based Bonhams & Goodman where Mowbray's holding is 20 per cent.
The impact of amortisation was to write down the carrying value of goodwill, but that was not a cash cost to the business, Mowbray said.
Chairman Murray Radford said the Mowbray group of companies continued to trade to expectations and had strong cash flows in the period.
Philatelic trading was good in the six months and since then there had been some excellent auction results in both this country and Australia, he said.
"These include the annual Mowbray International auction, and Australian auctions by both Stanley Gibbons and Bonhams & Goodman, all exceeding $1 million hammer sales in October."
Bonhams & Goodman was about to open a major auction showroom in Melbourne, Mr Radford said.
The success of the second half of the year hinged on a number of auctions to be held in New Zealand and Australia.
Mowbray shares last traded at a year high of $1.60 on Friday, with the year-low of about $1.18 recorded in April.
- NZPA
