Asset quality worsens at PGG Wrightson Finance

Asset quality of PGG Wrightson Finance deteriorated sharply in the latest year, with the New Zealand finance company reporting more than a doubling of impaired and past due assets.

As of June 2010, PWF's impaired assets rose to NZ$65 million, up from NZ$23 million the year before.  Past due assets over 90 days jumped to NZ$74 million, up from NZ$36 million in June 2009.

As a result, impairment losses rose three-fold to NZ$8.9 million from NZ$2.9 million in 2009.

Still, the company managed to increase its net profit in the latest year to NZ$8.9 million, up 14 per cent from the year as interest income rose slightly but interest expense fell to reflect a drop in funding costs in a lower interest rate environment.

Even as finance companies in general struggled to attract new investments, PWF managed to grow its secured debentures to NZ$247.6 million from NZ$221.0 million the year before. However, investor preference was for near-term debentures with 77 per cent of the total secured debentures due for maturity within a year.  PWF has already been approved for an extension under the NZ government's retail guarantee scheme.

The company seemed well placed on the liquidity front because nearly 82 per cent of its asset book of NZ$530 million is classified as due within a year.

Meanwhile, the company last week received approval from its bondholders for extending the term of its NZ$100 million bonds by a year to 8 October, 2011.