The performances of Mainfreight's divisions in the US and Asia dragged down profit for its first-half trading, in spite of strong trading in Australia and improved European results.
Sales revenue grew 7% on a year ago from $1.14 billion to $1.22 billion, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation (ebitda) rose 3% to $88.3 million while reported after-tax profit grew 1%, to $41.8 million.
Forsyth Barr broker Damian Foster said the 1% gain in after-tax profit compared to full-year market consensus forecasts of about 14% growth.
The weaker-than-expected first-half result was mainly from weaker performance in the Americas, with a 10% revenue decline, Asian ebitda was down 53% and there were weaker margins in New Zealand, with ebitda up 3.5% on revenue growth of more than 10%.
''Australian operations performed strongly and were the clear stand-out,'' Mr Foster said.
Mainfreight shares were down 2.3% at $23.55 following the announcement.
Mr Foster said while Main- freight was a growth business, that growth was often lumpy and the likely broker downgrades which stem from this result, probably around 3%-4%, would have some share price consequences, given Mainfreight's premium valuation rating.
''The company doesn't provide guidance but does reference a strong start to the second half, while also outlining in its result presentation a number of factors that inhibited the first-half result,'' he said.
In New Zealand, revenue rose 10% to $317 million and ebitda gained 3.5% to $38 million, BusinessDesk reported.
Its domestic operations faced additional costs following the Kaikoura earthquakes last November.
Against that, Mainfreight said it enjoyed ''stronger intra-island volumes, together with an expanded and improving logistics warehousing operation.''
Australian sales rose about 14% to $A292.9 million ($NZ304.6 million) and ebitda jumped 29% to $A20.8 million on the back of ''strong sales improvement across its domestic and warehousing divisions, Mainfreight said.
''Both domestic transport volumes and logistics warehousing activity continue to increase as the pre-Christmas season influences October and November trading,'' it said.
Air and ocean activity remained subdued compared with the prior period, Mainfreight said.
Mainfreight's Asian operations recorded a 20% jump in sales to $US37.6 million ($NZ52.6 million) but ebitda tumbled 53% to $US2 million in the first half, as gross margins were adversely affected by the decline in inter-company airfreight revenue.
In Europe, sales rose 19% to 163 million ($NZ279 million and earnings gained 9.8% to 8.4 million, BusinessDesk reported.
