Pāmu made a net profit of $29 million from its revenue of $250m in the financial year to June 30, 2021.
It will pay a dividend of $5m to the Government and use most of the surplus cashflow to pay down debt.
In the two previous financial years it made net losses of $24m and $11m after depreciation and amortisation charges and impairment losses on property, plant and equipment.
The state-owned farming company gained half of its revenue from milk.
It increased production from its livestock and dairy farms to offset land reductions from Treaty settlements, expiry of leases and conversion of lower-earning land to forestry.
Landcorp Farming, trading as Pāmu, made earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and revaluation of $61m compared with $65m the year before.
Chair Warren Parker says the company’s portfolio of assets was evolving to meet tomorrow’s consumer’s needs and societal expectations for sustainably produced high-quality food and fibre.
Expansion into forestry and horticulture was contributing positively and supporting the core business of livestock and dairy.
Chief executive Steve Carden says the result was achieved with focus on operating expenses and improving productivity despite difficult market conditions for some red meat categories.
He says falling venison prices and rising farm input costs were countered by higher milk prices, the growth in carbon revenue and the reduction in operating expenses.
“While overall livestock revenue slipped slightly to $112m because of lower meat prices in global markets disrupted by covid-19, lamb and beef prices gained momentum during the final quarter,” Carden said.
“These gains together with Pāmu processing contracts for specific quality requirements helped even out declines in venison returns.”
He says subsidiaries Spring Sheep (50% owned), Focus Genetics (100%) and Farm IQ (26%) were performing well.
Specialty milks – sheep, organic and deer – for the keen Chinese demand were being processed through part-owned processor Melody Dairies (35%) in a plant commissioned in spring 2020.
“As a farmer of scale, we are uniquely placed to collaborate with researchers and other technology providers to innovate through farm scale evaluations – such as we are doing in Canterbury for bobby-free dairy production, both for our and the sector’s future social license,” he said.
