© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: An Aurizon coal-fired train travels through the countryside in Muswellbrook, north of Sydney, Australia, April 9, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Reed
(Reuters) – Australia’s Aurizon Holdings reported a 34% drop in its first-half underlying profit on Monday and cut its annual core earnings forecast as prolonged wet weather and a derailment hit the company’s freight volumes. railway transport.
The Queensland-based firm said it cut the underlying EBITDA forecast for fiscal 2023 by 4% to between A$1.42 billion ($981.50 million) and A$1.47 billion, due to the persistent rainy weather and a two-week derailment on the Blackwater line.
Aurizon’s underlying EBITDA for fiscal 2022 was A$1.47 billion.
It was “an operationally challenging period, with prolonged flooding on the East Coast coupled with a number of derailments and significant third-party incidents that resulted in reduced volumes and revenue,” chief executive Andrew Harding said.
For the first half of 2023, the company’s underlying net profit after tax was A$169 million, compared to A$257 million a year earlier.
Aurizon also declared an interim dividend of AUD 7.0 per share, down 33% from the AUD 10.5 dividend it declared a year ago.
“Overall, (earnings were) soft with failures across all lines, which will be surprising given the regulated nature of some of the business,” Citi said, adding that income investors will be disappointed with the dividend.
Shares in the company fell 9.2% to A$3.35 after the earnings update.
($1 = 1.4468 Australian dollars)
