2015 Half Yearly Report
An ongoing focus on collaborating with other science providers has strengthened NIWA’s research capability and supported the application of NIWA’s science to industry and government agencies. Excellent progress has been made with the implementation of initiatives to improve NIWA’s operational efficiency and effectiveness.
Full 2015 half yearly report ending 31 December 2015 [PDF 2.2 MB]
Overview
At the half year stage NIWA’s profit and cash flow metrics are close to or better than budget while revenue is below budget. Challenges in the research funding environment this year will make achieving full year revenue and profit budget targets a significant challenge.
All science objectives as outlined in the 2015/16 Statement of Corporate Intent are on track, and excellent progress has been made with the implementation of initiatives to improve NIWA’s operational efficiency and effectiveness.
An ongoing focus on collaborating with other science providers has strengthened NIWA’s research capability and supported the application of NIWA’s science to industry and government agencies, as illustrated in the rest of this report.
Financial Results
NIWA’s turnover at $57.990 million was below the budgeted revenue of $62.627 million. An after taxation loss of $(0.415) million was better than budget by $0.698 million.
While good progress has been made in securing additional revenue to meet the full year budget, changes in the research funding environment are making this an increasingly challenging objective.
Expenses were $1.782 million lower than during the same period last year, due to lower spending on science collaboration activity in respect of revenue generating projects.
The closing cash position continues to be favourable, being $10.521 million ahead of the budgeted cash balance of $2.483 million due to being $2.5 million lower than budget capital spending (timing of capital purchases) combined with positive working capital movements (mainly lower uninvoiced receivables).
Overall, while NIWA expects to be profitable this year, securing sufficient research funding in the second half of the year to achieve the budget revenue and profit targets is likely to present a significant challenge.