Boosted by good returns from its classified businesses – including Motors – Trade Me has lifted annual profit to a record net after-tax $75.6 million.
The full acquisition and integration of vehicle listing aggregator AutoBase is also singled out as another contributor to Trade Me’s record result.
“Our EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) grew to another record high of $110.4 million, up by 11.3% compared to financial year 2011 – and 4.7% ahead of our forecast,” says Trade Me chairman, David Kirk.
“We delivered NPAT (net profit after tax) of $75.6 million for the 2012 financial year, up 10.0% on our forecast.
The performance of the business has been pleasing, especially given the continued soft economic conditions,” says Trade Me CEO Jon Macdonald.
“The classifieds businesses – Motors, Property, and Jobs – put in a strong performance during the past year. We believe there have been several contributors to this including the return of some cyclical stability in Motors and Property, relative to the previous financial year, good uptake in premium promotional products, increases in yield through optimising our pricing models, and the acquisition and integration of vehicle listing aggregator AutoBase.”
Kirk says that Trade Me intends to pay a dividend of 7.8 cents per share, consistent with its policy of paying dividends based on approximately 80% of profit.
