PBT up 6.7%, NPAT down 42.3% on discontinued operation loss

Reported NPAT, however, fell 42.3% to NZ$13.9m because the discontinued operation contributed an after-tax loss of NZ$12.1m (versus NZ$3.6m in FY23) and the effective tax rate climbed to 28.8% from 19.0%. Profit from continuing operations only eased modestly to NZ$26.0m from NZ$27.6m, so the headline NPAT decline is presentation-driven rather than operational.

Operating cash flow jumped 76.7% to NZ$64.9m, lifting cash conversion (OCF/EBITDA) to 68.2% from 42.1%. Net debt/EBITDA improved to 3.14x from 3.62x, and total assets expanded 38.5% to NZ$1.3b on a balance-sheet revaluation that pushed equity to NZ$818.3m and NTA per share to NZ$1.98.

Capital raise adds balance-sheet context, with NZ$435m capital raised, but borrowings and gearing are the direct leverage evidence.

1. PBT growth of 6.7% and EBITDA growth of 9.1% reflect 3% throughput growth to 3.5 billion litres anchored by jet fuel demand. The 49.0 percentage-point gap between PBT growth and NPAT growth is explained almost entirely by the larger discontinued-operation charge and the higher tax rate, so the underlying operating result is broadly in line with prior year, not deteriorating.

2. Cash conversion stepped well above the company's historical range. Annolyse's historical baseline for OCF/EBITDA shows a three-year mean of 21.7% within a -24.6% to 47.6% range; FY24 at 68.2% sits materially above the top of that range. Receivable days fell to 35.1 from 49.7, supporting pre-lease FCF of NZ$63.4m versus a historical mean of -NZ$2.8m, and underwriting both the leverage reduction and continued growth investment.

3. The balance sheet has been substantially reset. Total assets are NZ$322.1m above the three-year mean of NZ$1b, equity rose 63.9% and gross borrowings fell 6.5%. This reflects fair-value uplifts on the import terminal system and unutilised land alongside operational cash generation, so the equity step-up is largely accounting-driven and does not by itself signal a change in cash earnings power.

HY24 reported NPAT of NZ$16.6m exceeded full-year NPAT of NZ$13.9m, implying an H2 NPAT of -NZ$2.7m — but H1 contributed 50.0% of revenue and 50.6% of EBITDA, so the H2 reported weakness is concentrated in the discontinued-operation charge rather than the underlying business. The release flags potential incremental growth capex of NZ$55–66m over a 15-year revenue period, but does not supply a firm phasing schedule, so the future capex burden on FCF is not yet quantifiable.

The operating result looks durable. EBITDA margin reached 68.0% versus the three-year mean of 54.4%, and pre-lease FCF of NZ$63.4m comfortably covered the declared full-year ordinary dividend of 11.0 cents per share at a 65.1% payout ratio. The full-year ordinary dividend is up from 10.5 cents in FY23, although the final component fell from 7.8 cents to 6.6 cents.

The cash-conversion lift is not a working-capital trick: operating working-capital movement of -NZ$4.4m sits within Annolyse's normal range (three-year mean -NZ$5.3m), so the move to 68.2% conversion is more structural than a one-off release. Two caveats temper the read. Capex fell to 37.6% of revenue from 48.2%, which flatters reported FCF intensity and may not persist if foreshadowed growth investment lands. And the 28.8% effective tax rate sits above the three-year mean of 25.0% and is the dominant reason NPAT diverged from PBT; investors should treat that, not operations, as the explanation for the NPAT decline.

This briefing cannot assess whether jet fuel demand growth and the higher EBITDA margin will hold beyond FY24 without forward throughput and contract-pricing disclosure.