Brambles Limited (ASX: BXB) shares dropped 10 per cent to $11.73 today after the pallets business reported a net profit after tax from continuing operations of US$454 million on revenue from continuing operations of US$4,595 million. The group will pay a final dividend of A$0.145 cents per share on earnings per share from continuing operations of US$0.285c.
Return on capital invested came in at 19.5%.
The result is complicated by the fact that Brambles sold its IFCO crate pooling business over FY 2019 for an enterprise value of US$2.51 billion to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The statutory profit after tax of US$1,467.7 million includes the recognition of the US$945.7 million post-tax gain on the sale of IFCO.
For FY 2020 the restructured group hinted at low mid-single-digit sales growth with underlying profit growth to be in line with or "slightly above" the final sales growth rate.
The softish forecast is likely taking the share price lower today. Other leading industrial businesses in Australia include Amcor Limited (ASX: AMC) and Pact Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: PGH).
