Crop & Food Research declares dividend

Crop & Food Research declares dividend

Crop & Food Research is declaring a special dividend of $3 million which will be directed to the government's Venture Investment Fund.

The 2001-02 annual report of the independent, government-owned company also shows a net profit of $944,000 for the year. Non-Crown funded revenue grew by 12.8% although Crown-funded revenue remained constant.

Crop & Food Research Board Chairman, Peter Allport, said the company was pleased to see the expansion of a venture capital market in New Zealand.

"It is satisfying to record that the shareholder value of Crop & Food Research increased by around 90% over the last ten years, enabling $3 million of this value to be reinvested by our shareholders in the Venture Investment Fund."

There had also been significant reinvestment into science capability, infrastructure and equipment for the public good.

Efforts to commercialise selected intellectual property had resulted in seven new commercialisation entities, he said.

CEO Paul Tocker said substantial funds had also been re-invested in two new strategic science initiatives, one in functional molecules and one in seafood. "We are determined to build our intellectual property contribution to revenue to equal benchmarked world best practice," he said.

Over the last 10 years total revenue had grown by 23% for the Group and 61% in private sector revenue.

"We anticipate that, in the next 10 years, the Institute's performance will show a substantial increase in the rate of growth. Much of the revenue growth will come from the contribution from intellectual property," he said.

Crop & Food Research provides research, technology and services to support the development of high quality, commercially successful products, particularly from grain, vegetable and flower crops and from seafood.