Mainfreight has reported a 17.7% increase in revenue and a 78.1% lift in profit before tax for the first 16 weeks of the new financial year, with the results released in a trading update presented to investors at its annual meeting on July 30.
The NZX-listed freight giant said trading had improved across most regions, with New Zealand, Australia, Europe and the Americas all reporting higher revenue and profit, while Asia delivered improved profitability despite lower revenue.
For the 16 weeks from April 1 to July 19, group revenue reached NZ$1.8 billion, up 17.7%, while profit before tax increased 78.1% to NZ$121 million. Return on revenue improved to 6.5%.
Transport was the strongest-performing division, with revenue increasing 24.5% to NZ$888.7m million and profit before tax rising 125.1% to NZ$69.1m.
Warehousing revenue increased 9.5% to NZ$289.6m, while profit before tax climbed 90.2% to NZ$16.3m. Air & Ocean revenue rose 13.1% to NZ$667.3m, with profit before tax up 24.2% to NZ$35.6m.
Group managing director Don Braid described the performance as a “pleasing, cautious improvement across all regions”.
He said New Zealand was improving after a difficult prior year, Australia continued to gain market share, Asia remained focused on revenue and margin improvement, Europe was progressing its network development strategy, while the United States Air & Ocean business was performing satisfactorily.
Braid added that improvements in the US transport and warehousing businesses were “pleasing – but far from acceptable”.
New Zealand
New Zealand generated revenue of NZ$418.75m, up 21%, while profit before tax increased 79.1% to NZ$40.49m.
New Zealand manager Carl George said the business had made a strong start to the year.
“The current year has started well.”
George said existing customers were increasing freight volumes, new customer gains were already trading or being onboarded, transport volumes were up across all key metrics and sales pipelines remained strong.
He said higher overheads from new transport and warehousing sites and ongoing rail inefficiencies had affected costs, requiring greater use of road freight.
Mainfreight’s priorities include improving warehouse utilisation, expanding multimodal inter-island freight using road, rail and coastal shipping, integrating more chilled freight into its network and improving margins.
The company also highlighted chilled logistics as a key growth area.
Its new leased 34,000-pallet chilled and ambient warehouse in Christchurch opened in July, while a 55,000-pallet chilled warehouse at Wiri in Auckland is scheduled to open in mid-2028.
Other New Zealand projects include a Nelson transport cross-dock and Air & Ocean facility and a Blenheim transport cross-dock and bulk wine wash facility, both due in the first quarter of 2027.
Mainfreight said it had secured inter-island ferry capacity and expected freight options to improve further once new Cook Strait ferries enter service, increasing capacity by 44%.
Outlook
Mainfreight reaffirmed its “One Mainfreight” strategy, which aims to deepen customer relationships by encouraging greater use of its Transport, Warehousing and Air & Ocean services.
The company plans to increase the proportion of its top 500 customers using all three services from 39-41% today to more than 50% by 2030.
Mainfreight is forecasting NZ$131m of property and fit-out investment across the 2027 and 2028 financial years, including NZ$63m in New Zealand.
As at March 31, bank debt had fallen by NZ$24.5m to NZ$99.9m, while cash on hand increased to NZ$26.6m.
The company concluded its shareholder presentation by saying it remained “cautiously optimistic”.
*Click here to read the full 2026 annual meeting presentation.
