Source: Radio New Zealand
Mainfreight has posted a net profit of $93.4 million for the six months ended September. Supplied
Global transport firm Mainfreight has seen a difficult first half, driving net profit down more than 18 percent, with tighter margins and sales harder to make.
Key numbers for the six months ended September compared with a year ago:
- Net profit $93.4m vs $114.6m down 18.5 percent
- Revenue $2.61b vs $2.55b up 2.1 percent
- Underlying profit before tax $131.7m vs $161.2m down 18.2 percent
- Interim dividend 85 cents per share – unchanged
“The first quarter was extremely tough. We are now seeing trading improve, particularly in New Zealand and Australia,” managing director Don Braid said.
Both regions were seeing improvement in the second half, with increasing market share and a pick-up in freight volumes.
He said Mainfreight was continuing to open more warehouses, with Christchurch and the planned Auckland sites examples of customer-driven demand.
Asia and Europe divisions were also continuing to see improvements.
“America’s our toughest market for us at this point in time. It’s an ongoing, long term business for us. We see a large amount of potential for us over a long period of time,” Braid said.
“It reminds us a little bit of when we were in Australia, 20 years ago, 25 years ago. How tough that was then.
“Now, Australia is our biggest market, and at some point in time, we think that America will do the same for us.”
He said the outlook was brighter overall.
“Our team have done a magnificent job in gaining market share,” Braid said.
“I think you’ll see that through to the year end results, where we’ve picked up more market share, particularly in our home market of New Zealand and Australia.
“It’s a really tough operating environment, but for us, we’re starting to see improvements and we do expect a busy Christmas.”
Mainfreight will release its financial results for the full 2026 financial year on 28 May 2026.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand