Port of Tauranga posted a 7.9 per cent gain in annual profit, driven by record volumes of cargo, and announced the next instalment of its capital return saying it expects further growth in volumes and earnings this year.
Profit rose to $83.4 million in the 12 months ended June 30 from $77.3m a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Sales rose 4.2 per cent to $256m.
In June, the port company marked its first year of container volumes exceeding 1 million TEUs and today confirmed it handled a record 1.08 million containers, up about 14 per cent from 2016 levels. Total trade rose 10 per cent to a record 22.2 million tonnes, driven by an 8 per cent gain in exports to 14.1 million tonnes and a 14 per cent gain in imports to 8 million tonnes. Port of Tauranga has dredged its harbour channels to accommodate the next generation of bigger ships.
"It's been a monumental year. The successful completion of our dredging project in September was a turning point, as bigger vessels were introduced on Tauranga-only port calls," said chairman David Pilkington.
The company will pay a special dividend of 5 cents a share in the second payment under a plan to return up to $140m to shareholders over four years. It also declared an ordinary final dividend of 6.2 cents, making 11.2 cents for the year, up 5.7 percent. The dividends will be paid on October 6 with a record date of September 22.
