Air New Zealand has ridden the tourism boom and staved off increased competition to deliver the best full-year earnings in its 76-year history.
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Employees will also benefit from the record performance with a bonus of up to NZ$2,500 to be paid to 8,200 staff not covered by other incentive programmes.
A 2016 final fully imputed ordinary dividend has been declared of 10.0 cents per share, bringing the full year ordinary declared dividends to 20.0 cents per share, an increase of 25 percent on the prior year.
The company forecast earnings before taxation for 2017 to be between NZ$400 million and NZ$600 million, owing to the uncertain impact of competition.
Shares in the ASX-listed Air NZ last traded at $A2.12, well up on the year low of $1.88 but down from a high of $3.10. “This has been an important contributor to our ability to achieve efficiencies”, Mr Carter says.
The bank accounts of Air New Zealand and its staff members are looking a lot healthier this week.
The airline is boasting a 70 percent rise in earnings (before other significant items and taxation) to $806 million in the 2016 financial year.
But there was also increased competition flying its way as other global airlines increase their presence in New Zealand, he said.
The result was on an 8.2% jump in operating revenue to $NZ5.2 billion ($A5 billion). The airline appears to have held off competition from Jetstar on regional routes reasonably well with New Zealand revenue of $2.98 billion compared to $2.91 billion the prior year and passengers carried domestically at 9.7 million compared to 9.2 million in 2015.
E tÅ “has been in a high performance engagement partnership with Air New Zealand that works to achieve superior wages and job security while improving the company’s bottom line”.
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It has also announced a fully imputed special dividend of 25 cents per share.
