South Port has bumped up its full-year earnings guidance on the back of a late surge in cargo.
When it released its interim result in February, South Port gave guidance that its full-year earnings would likely fall in the range of $7.3 million to $8m.
But in a note to the NZX on Friday, the company said it now expected earnings to be around $8.3m to $9m, due to higher bulk and containerised cargo volumes late in the last quarter.
The company described it as a pleasing result, saying it offset the impact of the removal of deductibility of depreciation on commercial buildings.
That depreciation change resulted in a one-off deferred tax expense of $900,000 for the 2024 financial year, following legislative changes that occurred after the February profit guidance.
The late surge in cargo, combined with the announcement by the New Zealand Aluminium Smelter that it was extending its operations for another 20 years, was a positive end to what had proved to be a challenging year for the company, it said.
