Gumboots were the dress code for the launch of the Te Wai Koiora project at Te Aroha Marae in Kai Iwi north of Whanganui. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Rubber goods manufacturer Skellerup has defied the odds in poor global economic conditions to report a solid profit.
Key numbers for the year ended June compared with a year ago:
- Net profit $46.9m vs $50.9m
- Revenue $330.5m vs $333.5m
- Final dividend 15.5 cents per share vs 22 cents per share
Skellerup chief executive Graham Leaming said he's pleased with the year's result.
"Of course we would like to do better but given the economic environment we think it's a pretty strong result and coming off a weak first half, a very good second-half result and we're in good shape for the future."
Increased demand for product drove earnings from its industrial division up four percent, while the agri division dipped 10 percent due to low sales and destocking.
Leaming said the company's previous result for 2023 was driven by outside factors and it was a high the company would not get back to for some time.
"There was a bringing forward of demand in that and a part of that was Covid related but part of that was also we had some constraints on our own capacity. So, we had customers ordering to long lead times that we were specifying and then we sold that capacity constraint we had, which meant we were able to lift the product a little earlier.
"That gave probably somewhat of an unnatural boost in the first half of FY23 and there's been a little bit of an adjustment since then."
Skellerup also recorded a one-off tax charge that reduced profit by around $3m.