Diversified agribusiness group Scales Corporation is raising its earnings guidance for the year to December 31, 2016, to a figure between $66 and $69 million, an increase over the previous corresponding period of between 7.5% and 12.4%.
It says a real highlight of 2016 is a particularly strong performance from the Horticulture division due to a significant uplift in export volumes.
Scales Corporation is releasing its 2016 annual result on February 28, 2017.
The Scales board had previously advised earning before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was expected to be between $55 million and $62 million.
The resulting underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) is projected to be between $37.2 million and $39.4 million. Previous guidance was for an NPAT of between $29.6 million and $34.6 million.
The Board is declaring an ordinary interim dividend of 8 cents per share for payment in January 2017. This payout represents a 23% increase in the 2015 interim ordinary dividend of 6.5 cents per share.
Managing Director Andy Borland says the company expects the financial results from all divisions within Scales to be higher than the 2015 actual results.
“We increased our ownership stake in Fern Ridge Produce Limited to 72.9% in January, achieved a 2020 volume target by exporting more than 3.5 million TCEs, and completed the year with the acquisition of the Longview apple business,” says Borland.
“In addition to its strong brand, Longview increases the volume of premium and traditional apple varieties we manage as well as providing access to post-harvest infrastructure with the surplus capacity to accommodate expected future increases in Apple volumes,” he says.
“The Storage & Logistics division has benefitted from network expansion, improved utilisation of our bulk liquid storage business, and improved cargo volumes in our freight forwarding operation.” says Borland.
