Strong revenue result for honey exporter

Key numbers

TE PUKE: New Zealand’s largest manuka honey exporter, Comvita, has reported record revenue of $209 million for the year to June.

The company’s net profit after tax was $12.8m, a 35% lift on last year while its operating profit is up 65% to $20.1m.

Comvita chief executive David Banfield said the great results were due to strong growth in all but one market.

‘‘North America posted another strong result in the world’s biggest monofloral manuka honey market with revenue increased by 29%.

‘‘Covid lockdowns had a big impact on sales in China. Sales in store were down 46% but overall revenue in China grew by 9%.’’

Japan was the only country not seeing increased sales, something Comvita wanted to work on, he said.

Mr Banfield said the company was seeing doubledigit growth in all honey types, not just manuka, something that had been helped by the pandemic.

‘‘In the eastern part of the world people have used honey as medicine for thousands of years and so consequently, when consumers want products that are natural and healthy,

For 12 months ended June 2022 $12.8m $209m $20.1m Net profit Revenue Operating profit

then they typically turn to us and we are seeing that emerging in the western market as well.

‘‘We’ve also been better at telling our founding story so we’ve invested heavily in marketing which is paying off,’’ he said.

Mr Banfield said the great results were a testament to the hard work Comvita staff had done over the past 12 months.

‘‘It hasn’t been easy. Freight has been a major issue for us, some product has been sitting in ports for over a month before we can get it into market so that has been frustrating but our team has been working overtime to make sure we are in front of the customers.’’

Comvita will pay a dividend of 5.5 cents per share.

Its shares closed yesterday up 2.73% at $3.39. It is down about 3% compared with a year ago. — RNZ