A turnaround half-year trading period has taken the New Zealand Refining Company (NZR) from a $6.9million loss a year ago to a $65.2million after-tax profit.
NZR chief executive Sjoerd Post said the company's long-term strategic focus on reliability allowed it to capitalise on strong refining margins and also the declining New Zealand dollar, in reporting its after-tax profit of $65.2million for the half year to June 2015.
He said management had ''capitalised brilliantly'' on the consistently high margins and improved NZ/US exchange rate by processing, at times, record volumes at close to or above margin cap levels.
That was ''roundly demonstrated'' by the first-half processing fee revenue of $170.9million being $2.5million more than for the entire 2014 year, Mr Post said.
However, the huge turnaround prompted NZR staff to highlight they were being offered a ''miserly 0.5% pay rise'' while claiming Mr Post's remuneration had ''risen 40% year-on-year''.
First Union organiser Jared Abbott said ''in difficult years the workers have willingly accepted wage freezes, but after the workers lifted the company back into profit, they're only being offered an extra 0.5%.
''We're seeing the growth of a two-speed wage economy at the company: the fast lane for the chief executive, the slow lane for everyone else,'' he said.
Shares in NZR were up 1.6% and $3.15 following the announcement. Its first interim dividend in two years will be 5c.
Mr Post said strong operating cashflows had allowed NZR to reduce debt by $73million, from a peak of $342million back to $269million.
Forsyth Barr broker Suzanne Kinnaird said it was a ''good result, as expected''.
''Whilst NZR expects margins in the second half of 2015 to fall from the highs of the first half, they should still be good,'' she said.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Peter McIntyre said the result met expectations, but it had continued its strategy and also keep delivering dividends.
He said NZR was an ongoing ''recovery story'', with continued emphasis on its refining margins.
