A campervan heads towards Mt Cook. File pic Photo: 123RF
Campervan company Tourism Holdings has reported strong first-half profit growth of 58 percent, despite near-term volatility in the vehicle sales market and challenging economic conditions.
Key numbers for the six months ended December compared with a year ago:
- Net profit $39.7m vs $25.2m
- Revenue $449.2m vs $261m
- Underlying profit $74m vs $43m
- Interim dividend 4.5 cents a share vs nil
"The two clear trends through our results have been the outperformance of rentals on a global basis and ongoing volatility in vehicle sales," THL chief executive Grant Webster said.
"Our rentals businesses in each market have delivered positive results, supported by strong rental yields that saw good growth in most markets.
"Our overall result was impacted by the ongoing challenges in the global vehicle sales market, which are
also evident across the broader automotive retail market."
He said the outlook was positive, though economic conditions and high interest rates had seen demand slow and sales volumes fall.
"Action Manufacturing and our tourism division have also had strong performances, delivering record
half-year results with both on track to deliver record full year results in FY24," he said.
Chair Cathy Quinn said the company was making significant progress on the merger with Action.
"We are being responsive to broader market conditions, in particular, the vehicle sales market and managing our fleet investment decisions."
Gross profit margins achieved in recent years were continuing to normalise in a range of 11-20 percent in most markets, with New Zealand continuing to be an outlier with elevated margins of more than 35 percent.
The company expected to make a full year net profit of $75m, and was on track to reach its net profit target of $100m in the June year ending 2026.