Port of Tauranga (POT) H2 2024 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Net profit after tax fell 22% to $90.8M for the year ended 30 June 2024, with underlying earnings down 12.8% and impacted by a one-off deferred tax expense.

• Total trade volume declined 4.2% year-over-year to 23.6M tonnes, and container volumes dropped 2.5% to 1.15M TEUs.

• Second half performance improved, with underlying earnings up 17.4% sequentially, trade volumes up 3.3%, and container numbers up 13.7%.

• Revenue was $417.4M, down 0.8% from the prior year, and operational efficiency and safety performance improved despite supply chain challenges.

• Ordinary dividends decreased 5.8% to 14.7 cps, with a final dividend of 8.7 cps.

Financial highlights

• Group underlying earnings were $102.7M, with a one-off deferred tax impact of $11.9M.

• Subsidiaries and associates' net profit after tax fell 29.3% to $9.4M.

• Terminal storage revenues dropped 59% to $11.1M.

• EBITDA declined 7.0% to $203.7M; operating costs increased 3.8% to $218.6M.

• Net debt to net debt plus equity ratio remained stable at 16.9%.

Outlook and guidance

• Export commodity price pressure persists, but some improvement is expected in FY25.

• Domestic economy anticipated to stay subdued in the first half of FY25, affecting import volumes.

• Expected to handle around 1.2M TEU and 6M JAS log volume in FY25.

• FY25 earnings guidance to be provided at the AGM in October 2024.

• Infrastructure investment and berth expansion remain key priorities.