WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s Fletcher Building has reported 26 percent fall in net profit in the first-half of current fiscal year.
The country’s largest listed company in Auckland said net profit in July-December was NZ$114 million ($86 million), down from NZ$154 million in the previous year.
It predicted full-year operating earnings would reach NZ$650-690 million, a modest rise on last year’s NZ$624, adding New Zealand continued to perform strongly but conditions in Australia were “difficult”.
“The downturn in mining investment and reduced government expenditure on infrastructure projects (in Australia) continued to have a negative impact on our results,” it said.
“To the extent that these conditions are either prolonged, or decline further, this could lead to future asset impairments of certain businesses.”
The result included NZ$66 million in significant items, including one-off losses on site closures and a writedown on its Forman insulation business.
In New Zealand, where the Auckland property market is booming and a massive rebuild is under way in Christchurch after a devastating 2011 earthquake, operating earnings were up 20 percent at NZ$200 million.
In Australia, Fletcher’s second-largest market, earnings plunged 36 percent to NZ$77 million as the end of the country’s long mining boom impacted on the building sector.
Fletcher Building shares slumped 5.49 percent in late trade on the benchmark NZX 50, which was down 0.20 percent overall.
