Port car movements drop

The number of cars handled by Lyttelton Port Company came in at 34,198 for the year ended June 30, a drop of 25 per cent from the 45,673 units in the previous financial year.

The figures come as the company announced an underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) of $15.5 million in the 2024 financial year, down 18 per cent from $18.9m in the prior period.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the year were $52.4m, up 13.7 per cent over the same time frame and driven by an increase in total revenue, which rose $12.1m to $193.8m. 

Barry Bragg, chairman, says: “Our earnings will need to continue to improve to deliver better returns on the significant post-earthquake capital investment programme and to justify further growth capital.” 

Total container volumes at Lyttelton were flat at 448,364 TEU, a 1.6 per cent year-on-year decrease from 455,457 TEU. 

Recent tax legislation changes also led to a one-off non-cash charge for building depreciation. The impact of this reduced the total NPAT to $9.9m. 

Cost pressures from wage and material cost increases resulted in a 4.3 per cent increase in operating expenses from $135.6m last year to $141.4m.

Net debt increased by $7.9m across the year from $207.3m to $215.3m.

Graeme Sumner, pictured, chief executive officer, says the company has worked hard to manage costs in the past financial year and this will continue.

“The reality is that we have to be more efficient in order to deliver the fair returns that a reasonable shareholder would expect and be in a position to deliver the future infrastructure investments the region will need to keep the supply chain moving,” he adds. 

“Trades were mixed this year. In containers, the reduction in volume came mostly from transshipments and to a lesser extent imports. Pleasingly, we saw a 2.6 per cent increase between years for full export TEUs.” 

However, bulk trades were down 9 per cent overall, with tonnage reducing from 3.76m tonnes to 3.43m tonnes.