John Lysaght resumes dividend payment

Press, 9 April 1977, Page 19

John Lysaght resumes dividend payment

NZPA Melbourne Improved plant utilisation and a year of cost-cutting have resulted in a 450 per cent recovery in net earnings j for John Lvsaght (Australia) Ltd, and allowed the company to resume paying a dividend. Group net profit fpr the year to January 1 w-as sAust9.9M compared with SI.BM the previous year. An extraordinary loss on foreign exchange of S3.BM reduced the latest profitavailable to shareholders to S6.IM', compared with S3M. the year before. The sheet and coil steel ( manufacturer is paying its two shareholders, Broken: Hill Proprietary Company,; Ltd. and Guest Keen and; Nettelfords, a dividend of fc( a share, or 54.5 M. The recovery in trading profit was after a 19.9 per; cent rise in sales of ste 1 sheet and coil from 770.000 tonnes to 920,000 tonnes. Sales revenue for the year; was up 34.3 per cent to $386.2M. A spokesman for the com- ' pany said that although a number of price increases) had been granted by the I Prices Justification Tribunal ■

;; during the year, none of them ‘had done anything but re- , store profit margins. 1 "It was not the comrany’s j policy to ask for increases to ! improve profitability,” he said. The $9.9M net trading profit_is still well below John

iiLysaght’s 1973 record of ■ $12.5M. 1 Sales in tonnes at 920.000 ; tonnes, compare with I.IM i; tonnes in both 1973 and 1974. i.'when the net profit slumped |to $7.2M. ■' The latest profit was after i an interest bill of $13.3M, up (from $12.9M. and depreciation of 514.4 M. i Apparently, reflecting the ■big rise in capital investment (during the year, taxation for [the period was only up from SB.3M to $11.7M. I Capital spending rose 34 per cent, from $52.6M to , $70.7M.