Wrightson's half-year profit up on last year

Rural services firm Wrightson today reported a December half net profit excluding one-off items of $2.4m, up on the $1.4m posted at the same time last year.


Including a $5m gain from the sale of Wrightson's insurance broking business into a partnership with Aon New Zealand, the company's net profit was $7.4m.


There was $1.3m of one-offs in the December 2003 half, which boosted that period's bottom line to $2.7m.


This year, earnings before interest and tax (ebit) were $10m, compared with $4.6 million in the December 2003 period.


A fully imputed interim dividend of 3.5 cents per share will be paid, up from 2.5cps.


- NZPA


* An earlier version of this story from NZPA contained errors and has been replaced.