Underperformance in one of its divisions and investment in overseas expansion have contributed to a fall in earnings for equipment finance company Silver Chef.Silver Chef made a net profit of A$6.5 million for the six months to December - an increase of 9.5 per cent over the previous corresponding period.However, the result was affected by an accounting change relating to long-term contracts and the write-back of incentive accruals. After adjusting for these items, underlying net profit was down 1.4 per cent on the previous corresponding period.The company said its hospitality division performed well, with a 9.3 per cent increase in rental assets.But the GoGetta equipment rental division's asset acquisition growth rate slowed to 3.9 per cent during the half, compared with 31.6 per cent growth in 2012/12 and 53.3 per cent in 2011/12.The company said in a statement: "GoGetta suffered from internal issues around recruitment, training and support sales staff. Resolution of these issues is well underway."The company has total rental assets worth $274.5 million.Silver Chef invested $600,000 in the development of its business in Canada but it is yet to report any revenue from its Canadian operations.