Courier company Freightways boosted annual profit with its express package and business mail division doing well.
It’s also targeting earnings growth for the current financial year, the NZ Herald reports.
Freightways delivers about 50 million items annually through brands like New Zealand Couriers and Post Haste Couriers.
It reported a 22% rise in net profit to $60.9 million in the year to June 30, while underlying profit before one-off items rose 4.1% to $56.6m. Basic earnings per share lifted to 36.5 cents a share versus 35.1 cents a share in the prior period. Revenue rose 7.9% to $545.3m.
A final dividend of 14.75 cents per share was recorded, a 2% increase on the previous corresponding period of 14.5 cents per share. This represents a pay-out of about $22.9m compared with $22.5m in the prior time frame. The dividend has a record date of September 15 and will be paid on October 2.
“This result has been achieved in a year that has included the challenges of a significant natural disaster, the completion of a number of major capacity-related projects and at a time of strong growth in volumes and related activity,” managing director Dean Bracewell says.
The express package and business mail division lifted operating revenue 8.7% to $402.6m. Modest price increases were implemented to offset rising costs and disruption surcharges were introduced to offset earthquake-related contingency costs.
DX Mail expanded its postal delivery network in several locations to meet demand for overnight and five-day a week delivery of standard-priced letters. Despite the decline of the overall letter market, DX Mail’s postal delivery volumes and physical and digital transactional mail-house services continue to grow profitably, it says.
Operating revenue within information management increased 5.4% to $144.2m.
