Top profits

Fonterra (ranked first in the Top 200 Index) reported the top profit for 2020 at $803m, with its profit after tax increasing by $931m from a loss of $122m in FY19.

This increase in profit is attributed to significantly lower net interest-bearing debt, improved cash flow and an increase in sales revenue for Fonterra in the current year. The prior year loss was mainly due to the write-downs of $203m impairment of its China Farms investment and $237m on its New Zealand food service business.

The top profit figure of $803m reported by Fonterra compares to the 2019 top profit of $1,397m achieved by Shell.

The top profit figure has decreased by 42.5 per cent year-on-year.

The average profit after tax across all 200 companies has decreased from $51.5m in FY19 to $32.5m in FY20 — a 36.9 per cent decrease.

Infrastructure investor Infratil (ranked 32nd) has entered the Top Profit Index in 2020, taking second place with a profit of $509m, a 609.1 per cent increase from its $64m reported in 2019.

Telecommunications giant Spark (ranked 9th) has moved up to third place in the Top Profit Index this year, up from fourth place 2019, with its profit after tax increasing by 4.4 per cent, from $409m in 2019 to $427m in 2020.

Specialty dairy company A2 Milk (ranked 22nd) has jumped from eighth place in 2019 to fourth in 2020. Its profit after tax has increased by 31.8 per cent from $295m in 2019 to $388m in 2020.

Lotto NZ (ranked 29th) climbed to fifth place in 2020.

Its profit has increased by 27.6 per cent from $261m in 2019 to $333m in 2020.