Carter Holt Harvey has worn a $264 million charge on its Australian building supplies group, which widened its loss by 80% last year and left it in negative equity. Source: The New Zealand Herald
Building Supplies Group Holdings, an Australian unit of the combined Carter Holt group, made a loss of $326.5 million in the 12 months ended December 31, compared with a loss of $181.7 million a year earlier, according to financial statements lodged with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission.
That included a $264.1 million impairment charge on Building Supplies’ Woodproducts Timber and Plywood businesses, amid “continued difficult trading conditions” said director Helen Goulding in the directors’ report.
Sales fell 4.4 per cent to $914.1 million, a faster decline than the cost of sales, which put a squeeze on gross margins.
Carter Holt’s annual sales for the trans-tasman building supplies group totalled $2.1 billion, according to its website. Stripping out the impairment charge, the unit made an operating loss of A$40.7 million, including A$14.8 million of restructuring costs and a A$1.1 million consulting bill.
Carter Holt shut two South Australian timber mills and laid off about 100 people in December 2013.
The company rejected an $27 million assistance package from the South Australian government which would have forced to it keep the mills open and maintain a minimum level of employment and production.
