ILT revenue down 10pc during Burt Munro week

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic and closed borders, the Invercargill Licensing Trust recorded revenue of $1.8 million for the week of the Burt Munro Challenge.

The trust board met on Thursday and chief executive Chris Ramsay said fewer registrations for the event led to a 10 per cent revenue drop from last year, down to $1.8m for the week of the event, which ran from February 10 to 14.

With no international tourists and fewer conferences, the trust’s total sales for January took a hit but were better than predicted last year.

‘‘If these results had been offered in June we would have taken them,’’ Ramsay said.

While total transactions were yet to be processed, forecast total sales for the first month of the year were down $717,000, or 10.1 per cent, on January last year.

Most of that was because liquor distribution into Queenstown and Central Otago was down 37 per cent, Ramsay said.

Board members shared sorrowful comments about long-running Queenstown restaurants that had recently closed as a result of the pandemic, including the Fishbone Bar & Grill seafood restaurant this week.

The trust’s January profit before tax and donations was $397,000, down $75,000 on the same month in 2020. This was a good result given the lower sales figures, Ramsay said.

Year-to-date sales were now $8.9m, or 11.4 per cent, behind last year, mostly because of the lockdown in April and May but also due to the lower sales to Queenstown.

Trust deputy president Mike Mika was recently appointed as a District Court judge and he formally resigned at the meeting.

Angela Newell was appointed as the new deputy president and a byelection would be held at a later date to fill Mika’s spot.