Rural services firm PGG Wrightson beat expectations with a 47% gain in first-half profit, driven by improvements in its retail, livestock, and seed and grain units, and said annual earnings may rise as much as 16%.
Net profit rose to $19.7 million in the six months to Dec. 31, from $13.4 million, a year earlier, the Christchurch-based company said in a statement.
BusinessDesk reports that operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation climbed 51 percent to $33.6 million and revenue from continuing operation increased 3.1 percent to $654.7 million.
“This is a pleasing result for the first half, and whilst there are headwinds facing the agricultural sector such as falling milk prices and more recently a dry summer, we are cautiously optimistic about the remainder of the financial year,” says chief executive Mark Dewdney.
“The strength of this first half result has given us confidence that the 2015 full year result will be a solid one.”
