Preliminary result and dividend

FLLYR

Fri, Aug 13 2021 10:14 am

Announcement of Full Year Results

The Chairman, Jim Gibbons, confirmed that the Trading Profit after Tax for the year ended 30 June 2021 was a record high $27.9m, up 61% on last year and up 13% on 2018, the previous best year.

He said demand for all new vehicles has been very strong. Supply to meet this demand has been variable, arrivals are often late and lumpy, sometimes significantly so. However, when looked at on a longer year to date basis, supply has grown to meet the demand. Total new registrations for the first six months of this calendar year were a record 84,598 vehicles.

Jim Gibbons added that all areas of the business, car dealerships, heavy trucks and tractors, performed well. In addition, Total Comprehensive Income was impacted by a material $25.2m increase in the property revaluation reserve.

The supply of electric vehicles from the Company’s franchisors is small but growing; Ford has launched a plug in hybrid Escape and a plug in hybrid Transit Custom, and Mazda a fully electric MX30.

He said the major developments, at Christchurch for Team Hutchinson Ford and the Lower Hutt Ford and Mazda hub for Capital City Motors, are nearing completion. The new branch facility for Southern Autos Manukau Limited, representing Suzuki and Isuzu, has opened in Botany, Auckland. At Rotorua, a property has been purchased to be developed into a truck parts and service facility for Southpac Trucks. Kenworth continues to be the preferred brand in the logging industry.

Jim Gibbons expected the current favourable trading conditions, with strong demand for new vehicles but constrained by supply difficulties, to continue for the immediate future. In the medium term, the planned new vehicle taxes will change the pricing relativity of vehicles, but the deeper driver of ongoing demand will be the strength of the economy and consumer confidence.

The Directors have declared a fully imputed dividend of 40 cents per share, taking the total dividend for the financial year to 55 cents per share, which is 64% of the Trading Profit after Tax.

Jim Gibbons announced that he would be retiring at the conclusion of the AGM in November and Ash Waugh had been appointed by the Board to the position of Chair Elect. The Directors have appointed Gillian Watson as an additional director with effect from 1 September 2021. She will stand for election by the shareholders at the November AGM.