The country's biggest rural services operator, PGG Wrightson, has reported a big turnaround in its half-year result.
It says improved earnings have underpinned a net profit of $3.1 million in the final six months of last year.
In the same period a year earlier, it lost $5.9 million.
Earnings rose 55% to $22 million and revenue rose more than 12% to $694 million.
Managing director George Gould says the sale of the company's finance arm to Heartland has helped the company's bottom line, by reducing debt servicing costs.
Mr Gould says the all the rest of its businesses are performing well.
