Lyttelton Port of Christchurch MARKET UPDATE

Lyttelton Port of Christchurch MARKET UPDATE

Mr Fisher, Chairman of Lyttelton Port of Christchurch (LPC) advised that the Board had held its final meeting for the calendar year, and he wished to provide an update to the market on two matters on behalf of the Board.

ANTIPODES REPORT

Mr Fisher advised that the Antipodes Report on the possible merger with Port Otago Limited will be received in final form by both Boards on Wednesday 23 December 2009. LPC will be appointing an advisor to work with Management on the review of the report during January 2010. Management and the Board will then meet in early February 2010 to consider the report. As previously advised the report will not be released; however an update on progress will be provided at the time of LPC’s announcement of the six months result at the end of February 2010.

OUTLOOK

LPC advised on 29 October 2009 that the first three months of this financial year were in line with budget, although quite a bit behind the same period last year. There were two key reasons for this;

a) Although container volumes were relatively even compared to last year, changes in cargo mix had resulted in a fall in revenues

b) In addition there was a significant difference in timing of maintenance spend between the two comparative quarters.

Mr Fisher today noted “The current financial year remains very challenging, and the results for the five months to 30 November 2009 indicate that the trading volumes to the half year will continue to be below the same period last year. NPAT for the six months to 31 December 2009 is expected to be in the range of $3.2 million to $3.5 million.”

Mr Fisher advised “We do anticipate the volumes will increase in the latter six months of the financial year. Our current expectation is for the full year’s NPAT to 30 June 2010 to be in the range of $9.0 million to $10.0 million. However, we will continue to keep the market informed if this anticipated result varies due to changing economic conditions.“

Mr Fisher concluded “We will provide a further update when we release our six month result.”

ENDS

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