Revenue for the Whangarei-based fuel refiner rose 16% to $411.7million for its year to December, while after-tax profit was up from $47.1million a year ago to $78.5million.
NZR shares, down about 11% on a year ago, traded up slightly after the announcement, at $2.44.
Forsyth Barr broker Suzanne Kinnaird said the result was ''a big step up'' on last year's profit, the main difference being the increased gross refining margin, which rose from $US6.47 per barrel to $US8.02 on average.
''The big positive surprise in the result is the final dividend of 12c per share, up 4c higher than our forecast,'' Mrs Kinnaird said. The full year dividend came to 18c per share.
The 10-day September pipeline breach, which hamstrung flights into and out of Auckland for several days cost NZR $14.3million - $8.3million in lost revenue and extra costs of $6million in repairs, which was only partially offset by $2.9million from insurance.
A digger was believed to have damaged the pipeline, but who had done it or when it happened was not known.
Craigs Investment partners broker Peter McIntyre said while there was a 1million barrel reduction in processing, year-on-year, the gross refining margin ''more than offset'' the reduction.
He noted full year 2018 would be affected by a full shutdown across NZR's entire plant for six weeks, over mid-April through to June 1.
Outgoing NZR chief executive Sjoerd Post said the strong result was down to a combination of plant reliability, healthy refining margins and strong cash generation from operations.
''An outstanding operational performance underpinned by a world-class unplanned downtime of 0.60% allowed the company to capitalise on healthy refining margins and to generate a significant lift in operating revenue to $411.7million, up 16% on the previous year,'' he said in a statement.
The gross refining margin average of $US8.02 per barrel was at the top of its historical $US4-$US6 range, supported by global demand growth and continued execution of NZR's growth strategy, Mr Post said.
