Blue Star Group Holdings Ltd’s revenues for the 12 months to 30 June 2011 held stable at NZ$569.8m (A$455.1m), but EBITDAR (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, restructuring charges and one-off items) fell 7.7% year-on-year to NZ$42.4m.
Blue Star said it was a year of two halves, with a decline in the second half damaging gains made in H1.
In its annual report to the NZX, the company said it saw “the majority of this decline [in EBITDAR] occurring in the last four months of the year”.
A number of factors “caused the second-half performance to be substantially weaker than was expected at the time our first six months’ results were released”, according to the report.
The company booked an overall after-tax loss of NZ$84.9m, driven down by a NZ$59.8m goodwill impairment charge.
Chief executive Chris Mitchell outlined the “key issues for second-half reduction in profits”.
“For Webstar, one-off production costs associated with establishing the ACP contract before the new printing facility in Auckland became fully operational,” said Mitchell.
“For Print NZ, softer economic conditions in the second half exacerbated by the Christchurch earthquake. For Print Australia, very weak economic conditions flowing from February and March,” he added.
Mitchell said the results were in line with the figures disclosed in the prospectus for its recent financial restructure.
“With the recent approval of our finance restructuring and the range of initiatives we have completed over the last few years, the business is now in a stronger financial position and we will now be able to focus on driving our plans forward to continue to grow our earnings,” said Mitchell.
“Earnings growth for this year is forecast to be an improvement of over 26% on last year,” he added.
The report pointed to a range of measure taken to improve performance, including: Blue Star’s investment in a pair of HP T350 inkjet web presses; the ACP contract and new magazine printing plant in Auckland; a recent NZ government contract; and “substantial cost reduction programs”, from which it expects to net NZ$30m in savings per year.
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter