Weakness in the resources sector has taken the shine off Washington H Soul Pattinson's full year profit, despite stronger results from its TPG Telecom and Brickworks investments.
Soul Pattinson made a regular profit of $123.2 million for the year to July 31, down from $160.7 million a year ago.
But statutory net profit rose 26 per cent to $131.7 million for the year, due chiefly to one-off writedowns in the previous year's result.
Chairman Robert Millner said the company's diversified portfolio provided some protection against the downturn in mining.
"WHSP's diversified portfolio of investments continues to provide it with protection against the continued volatility from a number of sectors of the economy," he said.
"This year, we saw improved results from telecommunications, building products and property, which have largely offset lower results from resources.
The worst performer was the company's copper mining subsidiary CopperChem, which made a loss of $38.7 million. It made a $20.9 million loss in 2013.
New Hope Group's contribution to WHSP's profit dropped from $44.2 million a year ago to $34.9 million, due to low coal prices.
But the company's holding in Brickworks delivered a $23.3 million contribution to profit, up from $13.6 million a year ago, due to increasing demand in the building products market.
While TPG Telecom remained the company's star investment, contributing $46.2 million to profit, up from $40.2 million.
Soul Pattinson announced a fully-franked final dividend of 29 cents per share, up from 28 cents per share a year ago. It brings the full year's distribution to 48 cents a share, up from 46 cents the previous year.
AAP ews/cdh
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