LYTELLTON Port Company has released its results for the 2023-24 financial year (FY24), posting a mixed report of both earnings and decreases.

The company returned underlying net profit after tax of NZ$15.5 million in FY24, down 18% on the FY23 result of NZ$18.9 million.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization for the year were NZ$52.4 million, 13.7% higher than FY23 and driven by an increase in total revenue, at NZ$193.8 million, up NZ$12.1 million from FY23.

LPC chair Barry Bragg said the port company’s earnings would need to continue to improve to deliver better returns on the “significant” post-earthquake capital investment programme, and to justify further growth capital.

“That’s why we are focused on delivering the kind of safe and efficient performance (customers) expect. This has been a major, ongoing emphasis for our team in the second half of FY24 and will continue to be in FY25,” Mr Bragg said.

Total container volumes were flat at 448,364 TEU, a 1.6% decrease compared to FY23’s 455,457 TEU.

“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% increase between years for full export TEUs.”

Bulk trades at the port were down 9% overall from FY23, with tonnage reducing from 3.76 million tonnes to 3.43 million tonnes.

Dry bulk fell 14%, while logs were down 12% and cars reduced from 45,673 to 34,198, a fall of 25% compared to FY23.

The port said recent tax legislation changes led to a one-off non-cash charge for building depreciation. The impact of this reduced the total net profit after tax to NZ$9.9 million.

Operating expenses increased by 4.3% from NZ$135.6 million in FY23 to NZ$141.4 million in FY24, due to cost pressures from wage and material cost increases.

LPC CEO Graeme Sumner said the team has worked hard to manage costs in FY24, and this will continue in FY25.

“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,” Mr Sumner said.

Mr Bragg said health and safety performance continued to be the top focus for LPC in FY24.

“The Board has been focused on driving a step-change in health and safety at LPC. We have a comprehensive action plan to improve leadership, improve work practices, upgrade assets and ensure our workforce is healthy,” he said.

“We are also now in year two of our three-year Critical Risk Assurance Programme. This important programme of work is about leading the way in operational risk reduction and evolving it into our safe production model.”

Lyttelton Port Company was sentenced last month (July) by the Christchurch District Court on a charge associated with the 2022 death of a stevedore at the port.

A local media report suggested LPC was fined NZ$480,000, with the port also having been ordered to pay NZ$35,000 in costs to Maritime NZ.