He said to this point the company had had “a strong response from both our local and international suppliers, and there has been no material disruption to our manufacturing, distribution, residential and construction operations”.
To preserve its funds, the company was cancelling the dividend which was due in April and suspending the on-market share buyback.
It was also putting its sale of its Australian concrete pipe business Rocla, announced last month, on hold.
Fletcher Building is in charge of many big projects including the New Zealand International Convention Centre, damaged by fire last October, and Precinct Properties’ Commercial Bay retail and office tower in Auckland.
Graham Burke, chairman of the Construction Industry Council, said he expected most big construction projects to close to slow the spread of Covid-19.
Only construction work on projects considered essential or key to human health are allowed to continue.
But he also expected construction to recover strongly if the industry handled it systematically.
“As long as we can treat it as a system, it has the potential to come back quickly and restimulate the economy. So it’s really important that people if at all possible don’t delay those jobs as soon as Level 4 is lifted.”
Fletcher Building is one of the first listed companies to cancel its dividend although some have postponed them and many have withdrawn their predicted profit guidance.
Car dealership company Colonial Motor Company also cancelled its interim dividend due next month, saying that while its results for the next half year were expected to be similar to the last, the outbreak could impact on its results.
On Tuesday jewellery firm Michael Hill International said it was deferring its dividend until September.
Source - NZ Fiji Times
