[The profit made from lost jobs - Trudy] Australian Financial Review Feb 23, 1999 http://www.afr.com.au/content/990223/update/update13.html Lang Corp expects Q1 profits to continue Lang Corp Ltd managing director Chris Corrigan said the company expects to continue to post profits in the region of those recorded in the first quarter of the current financial year. Lang, the parent company of Patrick stevedores, today said unaudited profit figures for the first quarter to December 31, 1998, reflected net earnings of $10.10 million. Profit before interest and tax was $18.30 million while the pre-tax outcome was $13.80 million, chairman Gilles Kryger shareholders at the company's annual general meeting here. "We would hope to continue that rate of progress in future quarters and hopefully improve on it," Mr Corrigan told reporters after the meeting. Mr Corrigan, who is also executive director of Patrick, noted that from February Lang would be paying more than $1 million per month to the Department of Transport as part of redundancy financing. After that was taken into account, the profits should continue, he said. "So it will continue at that rate or better hopefully, adjusted for that issue," he said. Mr Corrigan said the first quarter results did not include Lang's sale of its 20 per cent interest in TDG Logistics last week. "We valued that holding on a market-to-market basis," he said. The 20 per cent stake was sold for $12.6 million, a move that Lang expects to further assist in reducing debt. Mr Corrigan said that Lang, in line with international trade, was growing at a significantly greater rate than gross domestic product (GDP). He said container volumes had grown 80 per cent in the last five years, putting growth at around eight or nine per cent per annum. "We are getting increased capacity in our terminals with very little additional capital and the trends towards trans-shipments and coastal cargo means we growing significantly faster than GDP," Mr Corrigan told shareholders. "We have got a business that should be growing quite quickly indeed, relative to the rest of the country." While substantial productivity gains have been made on the company's docks, Mr Corrigan said that Sydney's Port Botany was lacking in crane rates and general performance. "Some of that has to do with changes we are in the process of making so it's not all attributable to lack of worker performance, but I think a large part of it is, and we are working to change that and with some success," he said. Mr Corrigan said he expected Port Botany to be up to speed by the end of the year. "By the end of the year I'd hope to see it in the same category as Melbourne." Lang has set target rates for containers moved per man per shift at 27. Prior to the dispute, Port Botany was operating at a level of nine container moves and has now moved to 16.0. Melbourne's East Swanson Dock has fared better, currently sitting on 25.8 moves from 10 before the dispute. Mr Corrigan expected container movements at East Swanson to reach the benchmark by the end of the year. Mr Corrigan also said the company's gearing level was around $130 million at year end and would likely be under $200 million by next year. On the company's decision not to pay a dividend this financial year, Mr Corrigan said the balance sheet needed to be firmed up first. "It's a reflection of the fact that we lost something in the order of $60 million to $70 million last year and it's put the company under significant strain. We need to repair the balance sheet," he said. "Shareholders in that context won't be sharing in the benefits for some time." Lang expects to pay an eight cent fully franked dividend next financial year and in future years to distribute not less than 40 per cent of after tax earnings as dividends. Mr Corrigan was re-elected to Lang's board at today's AGM where shareholders also approved the adoption of an updated constitution and takeover approval provisions. Lang's shares were 12 cents higher at $4.60 at 1137 AEDT. AAP This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
