Pgg Wrightson Half Year ProfiT Dips, Company Warns Of Challenges For Agriculture Sector

• Published date: 08 March 2023
• Publication title: West Coast Farming Times, The

Net profit was $21.2m vs $22.5m, and revenue $586m vs $552m. The dividend was 12 cents cents a share vs 14 cents

PGW chairman Joo Hai Lee said on the heels of an "extraordinarily good" financial year, he was cautious for the year ahead, with the damage of Cyclone Gabrielle still to be assessed and rural confidence sitting at some of the lowest levels since surveys began.

"Our clients are experiencing an environment with rising interest rates, tightening credit, increased input costs, labour shortages, supply chain disruption, an uncertain geopolitical and domestic regulatory landscape, and adverse weather events including the extraordinary impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle that have hit the agricultural and horticultural sectors hard over large parts of the country.

"The full eff ects of these dynamics are yet to be assessed," he said.

Mr Lee said the low morale had aff ected the company's real estate sales as the agriculture sector faced a myriad of challenges including rising interest rates, the decline in property demand and sales, mismatch of vendor-purchaser expectations, shrinking buyer pool, and a number of regulatory challenges coming to the rural sector.

"As a result, earnings from our real estate business were significantly back from the buoyant market seen over recent years and this explains the majority of the reduction in earnings for the agency operating segment."

He said residential and lifestyle sales experienced a significant slowdown throughout all markets.

Lee...