Manufacturing company Skellerup has maintained its interim dividend at 3.5c/share for investors despite a small fall in earnings before interest and tax (ebit).
The company which has a large focus on the dairy industry, reported ebit of $13.73million for the six months ended December, down 2% on the $14million reported in the previous corresponding period.
Reported profit fell 1% to $9.64million from $9.72million and the earnings per share fell by 1% to 5cps.
The company moved from a cash balance of more than $7.78million in 2014 to a net debt position of $17.6million in the period under review.
More than $19million was invested in the new Dairy Rubberware facility at Wigram.
Chairman Sir Selwyn Cushing said the results represented a solid performance in what remained a difficult market.
The changes made to the industrial division in the past couple of years were paying off.
"We have achieved good growth in the United States, helped by investments being made to upgrade water infrastructure and also in Australia, through careful expansion of our product range into civil applications.''
Further improvements were expected in the next six months.
The outlook for the agri division was hard to project, with low global milk prices likely to have some impact on the timing and amount of farmer spending between May and July 2016, which is the off-season for most New Zealand dairy farmers, Sir Selwyn observed.
Skellerup projected a reported profit of about $23million for the full financial year, a 5% increase on the $21.9million reported in the pcp.
Chief executive David Mair said Skellerup's decision to invest in its US operations had boosted revenue and earnings for the industrial division.
"It's satisfying to see the investment we have made in our US growth strategy continuing to deliver tangible benefits to the bottom line.''
However, the drop in forecast payout for New Zealand dairy farmers had resulted in some deferral of spending, slowing local sales of dairy rubberware and footwear.
Many of Skellerup's products were essential consumables and Mr Mair expected a recovery, but the exact timing was difficult to forecast.
In contrast, he noted overseas sales in the first half of the year were strong, enabling the agri division to record a slight increase in revenue.
The higher costs of sales in delivering to international markets caused a reduction in agri division ebit compared to the previous year.
