Perth company Wright Prospecting has reported another massive profit as its low-key owners reap the benefits of an iron ore royalties deal negotiated more than 50 years ago.
Perth company Wright Prospecting has reported another massive profit as its low-key owners reap the benefits of an iron ore royalties deal negotiated more than 50 years ago.
Wright Prospecting posted a net profit after-tax of $277 million for the year to June 2024, according to annual accounts lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
That is up from $235 million in FY23.
The entire profit was distributed to family members, with $263 million of dividends paid during the financial year and $44 million paid after balance date.
The beneficiaries are Angela Bennett, through her family company AMB Holdings, and Alexandra Burt and Leonie Baldock, through VOC Group.
Wright Prospecting is a very simple business, with just 11 staff.
Its income stems from a royalties deal negotiated by family patriarch Peter Wright (in tandem with his business partner Lang Hancock) with Rio Tinto in the 1960s.
Total revenue was up 14 per cent to $415 million, which the company said was “largely due to increased underlying production”.
The company earned $223 million as its share of income from the ‘Hancock & Wright’ partnership and a further $192 million in ‘mining royalties income’.
Its biggest operating expense was legal fees, which totalled more than $12 million for the second year running.
It is in the midst of a legal battle with Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting and other parties over ownership of iron ore tenements in the Pilbara and their entitlement to royalties.
Wright Prospecting is poised to become a lunch larger company by the end of the decade, when Rio Tinto plans to start mining at their jointly-owned Rhodes Ridge iron ore deposit.
Rio is targeting initial production of 20 million tonnes per annum and potentially increasing to 100mtpa.
AMB Holdings annual accounts provide some insight into how much money Angela Bennett’s family has accumulated.
Led by her son Todd Bennett, AMB had total equity of $1.9 billion as at June 30.
Its money is primarily invested in financial assets ($949 million) while its share of equity accounted investments, including its 50 per cent stake in Wright Prospecting, was valued at $756 million.
It also owns the Blue HQ marina at Fremantle and is an active property developer.
The company reported a net profit of $31million.
Its main revenue item was dividends of $131 million.
With 49 staff, the business has some surprisingly large expense items.
It reported $48 million of administration costs, up from $26 million in the prior year.
It also reported employee expenses of $27 million, down from $44 million.
The amount paid to ‘key management personnel’ was $9.9 million.
