Aurora considered ‘going concern’

The viability of Aurora Energy is not in question, but the state of the books continues to cause unease.

Dunedin city councillor Lee Vandervis asked at a meeting yesterday whether the council-owned company should be treated as a going concern.

Dunedin City Holdings Ltd chairman Keith Cooper said Aurora was still a going concern and a viable business.

But the company might need to concede it would not be able to recover the book value of all its assets in the future.

Mr Cooper said whether it could recover the book value of all its assets could perhaps be a matter
for auditors next year.

Aurora had an after-tax loss of $4.2million in the past financial year, which ended in June, but that was better than the forecast loss of $18.2million.

The company had capital expenditure of $53.6million through the year, and it was invested in network assets across the Dunedin, Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes areas.

A series of annual reports for council-owned companies was on the agenda for council discussion yesterday.

Mr Cooper said the companies were bouncing back from Covid-19 fallout, but challenges remained for the Dunedin Airport and Dunedin Venues Management Ltd.

DVML started the financial year strongly in the events industry, but by the end had recorded a net loss after tax of $50,000.

The airport was severely affected by fallout from the pandemic, but still recorded a pre-tax operating surplus of $2.3million.

Lack of tourists resulted in the council placing Dunedin Railways in hibernation.

City Forests, however, delivered an after-tax profit of $12.7million.

Overall, the Dunedin City Holdings group recorded a net loss of $5.3million, which was better than the $14.6million loss that had been forecast.

The group is expected to return to profitability in 2022.

grant.miller@odt.co.nz

Comments

It's not always 'going' but it's certainly a concern.

 

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