Pyne Gould confident after healthy six-month result

Pyne Gould Corp yesterday said its Marac finance arm would be resilient in the face of a slowdown as the financial services group disclosed a surge in half-year profits.

Managing director Brian Jolliffe said Marac - Pyne Gould's most important operating division - was seeing a slowdown in motor finance and its marine and leisure lending business. But the rest of the product lines were holding up well despite predictions that rising interest rates would put a brake on growth this year.

"The other parts of our business - it is as strong as it has ever been in the last couple of years. Small and medium-sized business in New Zealand is just getting on with it."

Marac's commercial lending business, the standout performer which was posting a 13 per cent increase in its loan book, would continue to benefit from the Government's increase in infrastructure investment.

half-year profits rose from $14.3 million to $26.5 million, thanks to record earnings at its trustee arm Perpetual and Marac, and a $14.1 million one-off gain from the merger of its former rural services subsidiary Pyne Gould Guinness with Reid Farmers.