Z Energy First-Half Profit Increases
November 08 2017 - 3:31PM
Dow Jones News
By Ben Collins
WELLINGTON--New Zealand fuel distributor Z Energy Ltd. (ZEL.NZ)
reported a 10% first-half profit rise on Thursday as it continued
to reap the rewards from a 785 million New Zealand dollar (US$543)
purchase of Chevron Corp.'s (CVX) gas-station network in the
country.
The Wellington-based company said net profit for the six months
through September rose to NZ$80 million from NZ$73 million a year
ago.
On a replacement cost basis--which strips out the effect of
movements in oil prices by restating the cost of sales using the
replacement cost of goods sold--Z Energy's half-year earnings
before interest, tax, depreciation and fair-value adjustments
totaled NZ$221 million. That was up from NZ$186 million a year
ago.
Z Energy has aggressively expanded in recent years, settling a
deal with Chevron for its Caltex-branded sites in June last year.
The transaction added to the company's debt load and prompted
directors to take a conservative approach to dividend payouts while
it brought borrowings down.
Still, the company has been able to bring its debt levels down
at a faster pace than originally expected, and is on track to reach
a self-imposed net debt to Ebitdaf target of 2X a year ahead of a
fiscal 2019 timetable.
The company said it would pay a first-half dividend of 10.4 New
Zealand cents a share, up from 9.4 cents last year. It said its
fiscal-year earnings guidance of between NZ$445 million and NZ$475
million was unchanged.
Write to Ben Collins at ben.collins@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 08, 2017 15:16 ET (20:16 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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