Fletchers: Ihum¯atao solution soon
Fletcher Building shareholders have been told to expect a resolution to the negotiations on the future of the historic Ihuma¯tao site by the end of the year.
Chair Bruce Hassall said discussions with the Government about the future of Ihuma¯tao, where Fletcher Building had planned to build 480 homes, were continuing. Hassall was speaking at the Fletcher Building annual shareholder meeting at Auckland’s Eden Park, outside which Ihuma¯tao protesters were in a celebratory mood after preventing the development on the land next to the 100-hectare O¯ tuataua Stonefields Historic Reserve.
‘‘We have been advised that the Government is hopeful of achieving a resolution by the end of the calendar year,’’ Hassall said. ‘‘The ball is currently in the hands of the prime minister,’’ said Hassall. ‘‘We were asked to pause and we have.’’
Fletcher Building chief executive Ross Taylor expected ‘‘fair compensation’’ for the land, which the company now appeared to be resigned to selling, with Auckland Council tipped to be the buyer, possibly funded by a loan from central government.
Both Taylor and Hassall would not divulge to shareholders how much the company had been spending on security at the site.
Taylor told shareholders the company had made ‘‘considerable progress’’ in turning around after three horrendous years.
The latest blow to longsuffering shareholders was the fire which caused extensive damage to the NZ International Convention Centre in October, which Fletcher Building had been close to completing for SkyCity.
Taylor also remembered the deaths of five Fletcher Building workers this year. ‘‘Tragically, the year was marked by five fatalities within our business,’’ Taylor said. ‘‘Through this we ensured that our sympathies and support have been provided to their colleagues, friends and families. We also made sure we learned all we could from what happened, so incidents like these are not repeated.’’
Hassall announced Fletcher Building had delivered a solid result. ‘‘We returned to profits, ended the year with a strong balance sheet and importantly we reinstated dividends,’’ he said.
Revenue for the year was $9.3 billion with net earnings of $164 million. ‘‘These were impacted by $234m of significant items and there were two main components to these: $140m of write-offs associated with the sale of our international businesses – Formica and RTG; and about $78m of costs associated with the intervention and reset of the Australian businesses.’’
Taylor said: ‘‘We see little change to the full year 2020 outlook we forecast in both June and August this year.’’