How Mainfreight Limited makes money
Where MFT’s revenue went in FY2021: operating costs, depreciation, interest and tax, and what was left as net profit. Built from the income statement in the filed annual report, and drawn only when the figures reconcile with each other. MFT company profile
How Mainfreight Limited makes money — FY2021
Revenue $3.5b · EBITDA $466.8m (13.2% of revenue) · Net profit $188.1m (5.3% of revenue) · Financial year ending March (from the issuer record)
Band widths are proportional to NZD amounts. Dashed outlines mark derived figures; the hatched node is a balancing item (net profit less every line above it).
| FY2021 | Amount | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $3.5b | Reported | |
| Operating costs (net of other income) | −$3.1b | Derived * | |
| EBITDA | $466.8m | Reported | |
| Depreciation & amortisation | −$237.9m | Derived * | |
| EBIT | $228.9m | Reported | |
| Interest | — | Not reported | Included in the balancing item. |
| Income tax | −$74.3m | Reported | |
| Interest and other items (net gain) | +$33.5m | Balancing item * | Net profit less the lines above; covers fair-value movements, impairments, associates and anything else not itemised. |
| Net profit | $188.1m | Reported |
- * depreciation amortisation: $237.9m = EBITDA − EBIT (may include impairments)
- * operating costs: $3.1b = Revenue − EBITDA
Checks run on these figures (6)
- Passed: Revenue is within the scale of a column stored in thousands.
- Passed: Revenue in the income statement ($3,543.8m) vs the summary table ($3,543.8m): agree within 2%.
- Passed: D&A not recorded; derived as EBITDA − EBIT.
- Not met: Operating expenses not recorded; costs derived as revenue minus operating profit.
- Passed: Balancing item $33.5m is 0.9% of revenue (limit 25%).
- Not met: No operating segments recorded for this year.
Figures extracted automatically from the annual report; check against the report. NZD thousands as stored, shown in millions. Source: annual_report_pdf · method: claude_haiku_pdf · extracted 7 March 2026.
Annual report: Download : Annual Report 2021 (PDF, NZX)
EBITDA bridge, FY2020 → FY2021
What moved EBITDA between the two years: the change in revenue, less the change in operating costs (revenue less EBITDA, net of other income; not a reported line). The costs are one net figure; no split by type is held, so none is shown.
| Step | FY2020 | FY2021 | Effect on EBITDA | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 EBITDA | $398.7m | $398.7m | As charted | |
| Revenue | $3,095.4m | $3,543.8m | +$448.4m | Reported |
| Operating costs (net, derived) | $2,696.7m | $3,077.0m | −$380.3m | Derived: revenue − EBITDA |
| FY2021 EBITDA | $466.8m | $466.8m | As charted |
$398.7m +$448.4m −$380.3m = $466.8m, which equals FY2021 EBITDA of $466.8m. EBITDA is the figure stored from each statement; companies that headline an adjusted measure (EBITDAF, underlying EBITDA) can report a different number.
What changed from FY2020 to FY2021
| Measure | FY2020 | FY2021 | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $3.1b | $3.5b | +$448.4m | +14.5% |
| EBITDA | $398.7m | $466.8m | +$68.1m | +17.1% |
| Net profit | $159.2m | $188.1m | +$28.9m | +18.2% |
| EBITDA margin | 12.9% | 13.2% | +0.3 pts | — |
| Net margin | 5.1% | 5.3% | +0.2 pts | — |
Both years passed the same checks. Margins are shares of revenue; their change is in percentage points. n/m = not meaningful (prior-year figure at or below zero). Each year holds the figures from its own annual report; restated comparatives are not applied.
Margins over time
EBITDA, EBIT and net profit as a share of revenue for each year whose figures passed the checks (10 of 10 years from FY2017). The shaded line is the median of 22 other listed Industrials operating companies, using each one’s same financial year where it passed the checks; the number of companies in each median is in the table. Gaps are years that were not charted.
MFT peer median below the axis: year not charted (reason in the table). All panels share one scale.
| Year | EBITDA margin: MFT · peer median (n) | EBIT margin: MFT · peer median (n) | Net margin: MFT · peer median (n) | Note | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 8.5% | 13.9% (5) | 6.6% | 10.1% (5) | 4.4% | 7.7% (5) | |
| FY2018 | 8.2% | 11.5% (7) | 6.4% | 8.0% (7) | 4.1% | 8.3% (7) | |
| FY2019 | 8.7% | 8.9% (7) | 6.7% | 4.9% (9) | 4.7% | 4.7% (9) | |
| FY2020 | 12.9% | 15.6% (6) | 7.4% | 6.0% (7) | 5.1% | 7.5% (7) | |
| FY2021 | 13.2% | 11.8% (8) | 6.5% | 5.7% (10) | 5.3% | 4.7% (10) | |
| FY2022 | 13.6% | 14.4% (7) | 9.8% | 7.2% (9) | 6.8% | 6.1% (9) | |
| FY2023 | 15.0% | 16.3% (11) | 10.3% | 6.8% (12) | 7.5% | 5.7% (12) | |
| FY2024 | 15.3% | 13.9% (9) | 8.4% | 5.7% (10) | 4.4% | 2.5% (10) | |
| FY2025 | 14.5% | 16.8% (12) | 8.3% | 7.3% (12) | 5.2% | 4.8% (12) | |
| FY2026 | 14.1% | 37.5% (2) | 7.6% | 24.9% (2) | 4.7% | 10.5% (2) | |
Peer medians use only peer-years that passed the same checks; a median of fewer than two companies is not shown. Years are grouped by financial-year label, and year-end months differ between companies.
Not yet available: where the cash goes (operating cash flow to capex, dividends and debt) and underlying versus reported earnings. The figures they need are not yet validated.
Years not charted
These years are on file but their figures did not pass the checks, so no chart is drawn for them.
- FY2009: Figures were not read from a filed annual report (source: not recorded).
Data sourced from NZX company annual reports (income statements). Our datasets may not be complete. Automated analysis can produce errors. If you believe any data on this page is incorrect, please contact us at hello@nzxplorer.co.nz.
For informational purposes only. Not investment advice.
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