Oji slumps to $130m loss on revenue decline and margin squeeze

Oji Fibre Solutions, which operates pulp and paper mills and packaging and recycling facilities across New Zealand, reported a heavy loss. Photo / Google

Paper milling and packaging giant Oji has reported a huge loss in its New Zealand operations, with profits tumbling from $52 million in 2022 to $103m in the red in 2023.

The accounts for Oji Oceania Management (NZ) filed to the Companies Office cover financial years ending December 31.

The reports show revenues shrank more than 14 per cent over the period, sliding from $1.47b to $1.26b. Gross margins also declined precipitously, shrinking from 12 per cent to just 1.8 per cent.

From paying $43m in tax expenses in 2022, losses last year had Oji book $31m in tax benefits.

Cyclones in Napier and Hastings, along with last year’s Auckland floods, had Oji book an additional $3.4m in clean-up and restoration costs.

Japanese multinational Oji built up a sizeable presence in New Zealand in 2014 after acquiring the pulp and paper assets of Graeme Hart’s Carter Holt Harvey.

Last year it picked up residual assets near its Kawerau operations from Norske Skog, which closed its own Tasman paper mill in 2021. That deal explicitly carved out a series of industrial landfills used and owned by Norske Skog, which are now the subject of potentially more than a billion dollars in environmental damage claims.

Matt Nippert is an Auckland-based investigations reporter covering white-collar and transnational crimes and the intersection of politics and business. He has won more than a dozen awards for his journalism - including twice being named Reporter of the Year - and joined the Herald in 2014 after having spent the decade prior reporting from business newspapers and national magazines.