Costa Group Holdings, the largest supplier of fruit and vegetables to Coles, Woolworths and Aldi, has returned a net profit after tax of $49.3 m for the year to June 30.
This is the first full year CGC has been listed as public company. The company said in a statement the profit represents a 29.7 per cent increase on the previous year’s figure.
In addition, the company said it continued to deliver on key domestic and international growth projects and reported that a strong performance from its overall portfolio offset the challenging market conditions in tomatoes.
Costa Group CEO Harry Debney said the results are evidence of the strength of the company’s business model.
“This year has seen Costa complete our first full financial year as a publicly listed company and while it is very pleasing to have exceeded our prospectus forecast earnings, the results also demonstrate the strength of our business model underpinned by our high quality diversified portfolio,” he said.
The company is projecting NPAT (pre-SGARA) growth at approximately 10 per cent for FY2017.
“FY17 dividends will be balanced against our need to fund growth objectives, but indicatively will be in the range of 50-70% of NPAT (pre-SGARA),” said Debney.