Coal cut at Aurizon

LOGISTICS group Aurizon has flagged a reduction in coal haulage at its Queensland rail network after an unfavourable draft ruling by the state’s competition regulator.

But it has affirmed its forecast for full-year underlying earnings after posting a firsthalf net profit of $281.5 million.

That tally is up 52 per cent from a year earlier, when its bottom line was weighed down by impairments and one-off items. Earnings before interest and tax for the six months to December fell 5 per cent on an underlying basis to $485.3m.