Infratil has posted a full-year loss reflecting what it describes as a remarkable year, filled with divestments, a thwarted takeover bid and acquisitions.
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The infrastructure investor recorded a $49.2 million loss for the 12 months to March compared with last year's $241.2m profit, due to a rise in incentive fees, one-off costs and last year's result being boosted by asset sales.
The company's underlying profit was $398.8m, a $28.6m increase on a year ago, following strong growth in its earnings from CDC Data Centres, Vodafone NZ and the recently acquired diagnostics firm Qscan, which all combined to offset losses from Wellington Airport and Trustpower.
Its revenue for the year rose 4.4 percent to $1.24 billion.
"Infratil's businesses have done an exceptional job managing the prolonged impacts of the Covid crisis; servicing our people and customers safely, while safeguarding the capital of shareholders," the company said in an announcement to the stock exchange.
Infratil owns renewable energy, digital infrastructure, airport, and healthcare businesses.
Infratil chair Mark Tume said AustralianSuper's rebuffed takeover offer for almost $5.4bn had in reality been an endorsement of the quality and attractiveness of Infratil's diverse assets.
"The offer was undervaluing what is both a special group of businesses and a unique and relatively unconstrained operating model."
He said the company's recent divestment of Tilt Renewables for nearly $3bn highlighted the disconnect between public and private market valuations.
The deal left the company with an almost billion-dollar war chest to pursue further acquisitions and invest in its existing assets.
Infratil acquired two medical diagnostics firms during the course of the year, Qscan and Pacific Radiology, as it embarked on a new strategy to buy businesses with defensive characteristics in the healthcare sector.
It expected its underlying profit for the current year to be between $470m and $520m, which does not take into account contributions from Tilt Renewables or the newly acquired medical diagnostics firm Pacific Radiology.
The company declared a final dividend of 11.5 cents per share, which is a 4.5 percent increase on the year before.
