Colonial predicts high profits

The Colonial Motor Company is anticipating strong half-year profits despite challenges the automotive industry is facing in New Zealand and further afield.

Shareholders at the annual meeting in November were informed a strong first quarter for the 2021/22 financial year was expected.

Then-chairman Jim Gibbons reported if there were no further major shocks, this run could be expected to continue for the short to medium term. 

Chief executive officer, Alex Gibbons, pictured, confirms in a guidance update issued on December 22 that trading has remained strong.

It is now anticipated that the financial half-year trading profit after tax to December 31 will be materially ahead of the corresponding period in 2020, which itself was a record first six months.

New company chairman, Ashley Waugh, says: “However, we believe supply disruptions and the uncertainty around the impact of the incoming clean-car taxes –combined with the fluid nature of the Covid-19 pandemic – will present a number of challenges in the second half of the financial year.”