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Strong home and business lending growth have helped boost the half-year profit of Kiwibank by 16 per cent.
The state-owned bank saw a net profit of $64 million for the six months to December 31, 2021, up from $55m in the same period in 2020.
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Chief executive Steve Jurkovich said the bank outperformed the market in home loan and business banking growth meaning it grew at a faster rate than the banking industry as a whole.
"Total lending growth of $1.9 billion for the half (up 20 per cent on the prior period) was driven by the strong housing market and solid demand, with above-market growth from our continued focus on the expansion of adviser channels.
"Business banking growth was flat on the prior half, but well above the rest of the market. This was due to a refreshed strategy focused on key customer segments and high demand from the business sector to work with a trusted New Zealand brand."
The bank's net interest income rose from $250m to $298m with its total operating income also rising from $276m to $328m.
Its expenses also rose, increasing from $198m to $232m although its cost to income fell from 71.7 per cent to 70.7 per cent.
New Zealand's second-largest listed retirement company pushed up bottom-line profit 135 per cent, showing how the pandemic isn't denting the sector's profitability but driving it to new heights.
Summerset Group made $543.7 million net profit after tax for the year to December 31, up on the previous year's $230.8m, mainly because of massive paper gains on the values of its many properties.
Revenue rose from $172.4m to $205.3m but the bottom line was boosted by a record $537.5m in revaluations, up on the previous year's $221.1m revaluations.
Underlying profit shot from $98.3m to $141.1m and total assets grew from $43.9b to $4.9b.
Yet gearing still fell from 32.6 per cent to 27.8 per cent.
The company built a record 671 units including 278 villas, two main buildings and three apartment blocks in the past year.
It now has 16 villages under construction in nine New Zealand regions.
It got resource consent approval for six villages in the year and all units scheduled to be delivered over the next four years now have resource consent, it said today.
Scott Scoullar, chief executive, said the year had been extraordinarily good because of record demand and build rates.
"We have had a very strong year for occupation right sales, up 25 per cent overall on FY20, and our strongest-ever year for pre-sales. In 2021, 72 per cent of all deliveries were pre-sold, and as a result net profit after tax and the underlying profit for Summerset are company records," Scoullar said this morning.
This year, the company will build in Milldale, Blenheim, and continue work on another 15 sites.
Summerset has land for another 5313 units and the largest listed retirement village land bank for units in the sector, he said.
Revaluations of $153.1 million on Australasian medical properties owned by listed Vital Healthcare Property Trust helped push net after-tax profit up 86 per cent for the latest half-year.
The trust made $91.5m profit in the half-year to December 31, 2020 but $170m in the latest half-year due partly due to those revaluations.
Revenue, or gross property income from rentals, rose only marginally from $56m to $60m between the two periods but operating profit actually fell from $28.2m to $27.8m when expenses rose.
However, the unrealised or paper revaluation gains on $3b of investment properties changed substantially from the previous $60m gain to the $153.1m boost in the latest period: 70 per cent of the gains came from Australia and 30 per cent from here.
Revaluation gains include around $50m from rental increases, leasing activity, development margins and other valuation adjustments, the trust said, citing $7m development margins.
But well-leased healthcare properties continue to get high revaluations.
Diversified food and logistics group Scales lifted its net profit by 39 per cent to $36.9 million in 2021 but said higher costs would bite in the current year.
The company's underlying net profit was $39.8m, up 20 per cent, while its underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) came to $73.8m, up 15 per cent.
The food ingredients division exceeded its earnings targets and reflected strong demand for petfood.
Scales said horticulture performed strongly, while the logistics division returned to previous levels of profitability.
However, it said global supply network pressures are expected to remain in place at least throughout 2022, with a significant increase in shipping and other logistics costs anticipated.
There was also an ongoing shortage of labour within the agribusiness sector.
Scales reconfirmed its forecast for 2022 of ebitda in a range of $62.0m to $67.0m.
Chair Tim Goodacre said Scales' diversified agribusiness strategy had underpinned record revenue and record underlying net profit, notwithstanding the effect of Covid-19 on global and domestic markets.
"In particular, the food ingredients division has recorded another outstanding result, partly aided by the growing demand for petfood together with its geographical and protein diversity," he said.
The mānuka honey company has cut staff by around 70 to save money and reduce debt.