Wellington, Aug 20 NZPA - New Zealand Post Group today confirmed a net profit after tax of $1.3 million for the financial year to the end of June.

The state-owned enterprise this month predicted it would break even due to declining mail volumes, tight margins in the banking sector and a series of significant one-off items.

Chairman Jim Bolger said that in view of the difficult trading environment the company drew some satisfaction from holding the underlying operating net profit of $73.6m to just under 5 percent of the $77.2m normalised earnings.

A series of non-recurring one-off items totalling $72.4 million reduced the reported profit to $1.3m.

They were historical and beyond NZ Post's control, he said.

The one-off costs were:

* $19.8m arising from a taxation change introduced in the May 2010 Budget affecting the depreciation treatment of property assets.

* $17.4m of write-downs and provisioning in the international mail business.

* $5.3m relating to the write-down of various assets, including property and aircraft, whose value has been affected by economic conditions, and other adjustments.

* A reduction of $29.9m associated with ParcelDirect Group, NZ Post's 50:50 courier joint venture with DHL in Australia.

Mr Bolger said the non-recurring items were largely non-cash expenses.

"As such, our cash position remains strong and the Group's commercial value, as well as our debt servicing capability, is not materially affected," he said.

The board declared a total dividend for the year of $6.42m.