Elders Rural Services boss Mike Guerin was able to hand out some good news last week as he prepares to push the button on a sweeping corporate restructure by announcing who will head the company's 20 new management regions.
Futuris Corporation reported, net profit for the year ended June 30 was down 65.4pc, to $36.45 million.
But its subsidiary, Elders Rural Services, recorded underlying earnings before interest and tax of $60.7 million - the best in the company's history.
Mr Guerin said the pleasing result would provide confidence as the company strode into a new era aimed at bringing the business, and its senior managers, closer to their customers while allowing the centralisation of many key back-office functions to reduce costs and lift efficiency.
More than 100 senior appointments will be announced during the next few weeks to fill the senior roles in the 20 new regional offices which will replace the previous five State-based management structures.
Mr Guerin said the selection process for the new jobs had been challenging but the restructure had also given the chance for a shot at senior management to some people who were not prepared to leave the bush to take promotion in a capital city.
"At Elders we believe we are entering the most exciting era for agriculture globally - and we know Australia will be playing a very important role in that," he said.
Meanwhile, Futuris's 2007-08 bottomline result includes previously announced non-recurring items of $47.8 million.
These items include:
• Charges arising from the Federal Government's decision to cancel funding for the proposed OPEL regional broadband network,
• A loss on the sale of rail and bus thermal systems operations, and restructuring costs and
• Write-downs booked for its Elders Rural Services division.
Futuris has declared a final dividend of 5.5c a share, bringing the total dividend to 9.5c - both payments in line with the previous corresponding period.
The company's 2007-08 underlying net profit was $84.2m, in line with its guidance but still lower than that of the year before.
Futuris chief executive, Les Wozniczka, who announced in June that he would resign from the company following a profit downgrade, said underlying profit was lower due to:
• Higher interest expenses,
• A lower profit contribution from the 43pc-owned beef producer, Australian Agricultural Company, and
• The absence of contributions from divested property operations.
Underlying earnings before interest and tax were $171.7m compared with $169.4m in 2006-07.
Futuris said conditions in the drought-stricken agriculture sector, which affected results in the first half, were improving.
Elders Rural Bank was also a major contributor to Futuris's balance sheet with a profit after tax of $41.1m.
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