Toll Holdings Ltd, Australia's top logistics group, reported a 24 per cent rise in profit from continuing operations yesterday and flagged strong profit growth in fiscal 2009.
The company reported an overall net loss of A$695 million (S$844 million) after writing down the value of its stake in airline Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd, which has been hit hard by soaring fuel bills.
Toll last month decided to offload its 63 per cent stake in Virgin Blue to shareholders as a special dividend and flagged a charge of A$1.3 billion to reflect the lower value of the stake.
It said its profit after tax from continued operations totalled A$258 million.
'Results to date for the June 2009 financial year have remained solid and tracking well ahead of last year,' the company said in a statement.
'Based on current trading conditions, the outlook for the full year is for strong earnings and cashflow generation to continue across the business,' it said.
Toll faces a challenging environment with the economy slowing down amid high borrowing costs and soaring fuel prices.
The company gets about 50 per cent of its revenue from retail and consumer goods companies which are sensitive to economic growth.
Toll said high fuel costs were a challenge, but did not expect the domestic economy to deteriorate markedly. Toll, which earns about 7 per cent of its revenue from Asia, said the major economies in the region remained strong.
The company reported an overall net loss of A$695 million (S$844 million) after writing down the value of its stake in airline Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd, which has been hit hard by soaring fuel bills.
Toll last month decided to offload its 63 per cent stake in Virgin Blue to shareholders as a special dividend and flagged a charge of A$1.3 billion to reflect the lower value of the stake.
It said its profit after tax from continued operations totalled A$258 million.
'Results to date for the June 2009 financial year have remained solid and tracking well ahead of last year,' the company said in a statement.
'Based on current trading conditions, the outlook for the full year is for strong earnings and cashflow generation to continue across the business,' it said.
Toll faces a challenging environment with the economy slowing down amid high borrowing costs and soaring fuel prices.
The company gets about 50 per cent of its revenue from retail and consumer goods companies which are sensitive to economic growth.
Toll said high fuel costs were a challenge, but did not expect the domestic economy to deteriorate markedly. Toll, which earns about 7 per cent of its revenue from Asia, said the major economies in the region remained strong.