Christchurch City Holdings Limited Analysis

Overview

CCHL is the commercial and investment arm of the Council. It was incorporated on 12 May 1993 to act as the holding company for the Council's commercial investments. As a result, it is a council controlled organisation under the Local Government Act 2002.

CCHL has eight direct Operating Subsidiaries, being Orion, CIAL, LPC, ESL, City Care Limited (Citycare), Red Bus Limited (Red Bus), EcoCentral Limited (EcoCentral) and Development Christchurch Limited (DCL). Six of these are 100% owned,the other two are majority owned by CCHL, being Orion (10.725% owned by Selwyn District Council) and CIAL (25% owned by the Crown).

CCHL's mission is to support the future growth of Christchurch by investing in key infrastructure assets that are commercially viable and environmentally and socially sustainable. CCHL's approach is to work with the Council to identify infrastructure needs of the region not being filled by the private sector or existing Council operations. This led to the establishment of entities such as ESL and DCL. This approach has resulted in CCHL and the Council (through its ownership of CCHL) owning a valuable portfolio of trading companies with strategic assets.

Continuing with this approach may result in CCHL's portfolio changing over time to meet the Christchurch region's infrastructure needs. At the date of this PDS CCHL does not have any plans to sell its shareholdings in its existing companies.

CCHL does not itself hold any infrastructure assets. Rather, CCHL is a holding company with its principal assets being the shares that it holds in its direct Operating Subsidiaries.

CCHL's main activities are monitoring the performance of its subsidiaries, through letters of expectation, regular reporting, and the appointment of Directors to its direct subsidiaries.

CCHL's primary source of income is dividend receipts from its direct Operating Subsidiaries. Its other source is interest income earned on loans advanced.

Performance

The following information was extracted from Christchurch City Holdings Limited's Full year results. released 29 August 2025

Strong contributions from across the portfolio have delivered a solid result for the CCHL Group for the 2025 f inancial year (FY25).

The CCHL portfolio value1 increased $635m (17%) across the year – growing from $3.5 billion to $4.1 billion at the end of FY25. Across FY25, CCHL paid $55 million in dividends to Christchurch City Council, in line with the FY25 SOI target and an increase on the $50.7 million paid during FY24.

Total operating revenue for the Group in FY25 was $1,576 million compared to $1,562 million in FY24, whilst earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and impairment for the Group was $506 million in FY25, compared to $450 million in FY24.

The Group delivered a normalised net profit after tax (NPAT) in FY25 of $159 million, compared to $111 million in FY24, ahead of the target NPAT outlined in the FY25 SOI to Christchurch City Council of $96 million.

Normalised NPAT for the current year reduces the reported NPAT by $47 million to adjust for the non-cash after-tax fair value gain related to the revaluation of Lyttelton Port Company’s property, plant and equipment. NPAT for FY24 was normalised by $43m for non-cash deferred tax expense related to a legislative change removing tax depreciation on commercial buildings. The adjustments do not impact the Group’s ability to pay dividends, or the independently assessed portfolio value