Kupe ink returns to black

Press, 27 April 1989, Page 42

Kupe ink returns to black

Kupe Group, the property developer, will not have “significant realised profits” before 1990, although it hauled itself back into the black in the six months ended February 28, the directors announced yesterday. The profit came from asset sales that reduced debt. Kupe posted a $2,842,000 after-tax profit, compared with a $146,096,000 loss for the six months to February, 1988. The directors said the profit resulted from asset sales, particularly a 25 per cent interest in a Honolulu high-rise building. This and other sales — including the sale of land in Auckland, and of shares in Renouf Corp — left Kupe with an increased equity in three remaining projects, and reduced working capital indebtedness, they said. A February 28 balance sheet showed current liabilities reduced to $20.8 million, from $71.1 million 12 months earlier. The directors said the reduction included $16.5 million of bank funding.

Total liabilities were $142.0 million, down from $181.7 million a year before.

The directors said no property revaluations on the three remaining projects Kupe is involved in had been included in the profit.