AUCKLAND – CDC NZ has reported a net loss of $87.7 million for the 2026 financial year, a sharp reversal from the $637.6 million net profit recorded in the previous period.
The deficit follows three significant financial hits: fair value write-downs on investment properties, foreign exchange losses, and escalating debt costs. These results emerge as the company’s parent, infrastructure investor Infratil, aggressively scales its broader Australasian data center footprint to meet the requirements of hyperscale cloud providers.
While the company recorded a tax benefit of $37.6 million, this was insufficient to offset the operational and valuation headwinds. In contrast, the previous year saw the company pay $179.6 million in tax on its substantial profits.
The financial volatility is highlighted by a fair value loss of $145.6 million on “investment properties,” a reversal from a $588.5 million gain in the prior year. Additionally, an 8.5% drop in the value of the New Zealand dollar against the Australian dollar over FY2026 resulted in a $45.9 million foreign exchange loss.
Debt Structure and Financing Costs
Net financing costs for the subsidiary tripled to $27 million. This increase aligns with a surge in total debt, which rose to $1.03 billion.
The vast majority of this liability-$994.8 million-consists of a related-party loan provided by CDC NZ FinCo1. This entity, established in February 2026, is owned by CDC’s Australian parent company, reflecting a centralized capital structure common in large-scale infrastructure portfolios and raising the stakes for how returns are ultimately shared between New Zealand and offshore investors.
The company’s asset base remains concentrated in real estate and specialized facilities:
- Total Assets: $2.03 billion
- Investment Properties: $1.93 billion
- FY2026 Capital Expenditure: $203.9 million
- Outstanding Contractual Obligations: $102.1 million for land purchase and development
These settings will be closely watched by policymakers and local councils as large-scale data infrastructure increasingly intersects with planning, energy security, and overseas investment rules overseen by the Overseas Investment Office.
Operational Expansion and Capacity
At the start of FY2026, CDC NZ expanded its Auckland presence with the opening of “Hobsonville 2,” located at 92D Hobsonville Road. The site comprises a 35,000sq m property with a rateable value of $25.5 million.
This facility complements the existing “campuses” in Hobsonville and Silverdale, both of which opened as 14MW hyperscale facilities in 2022 before undergoing substantial upgrades to support higher-density cloud and AI workloads.
Current operating capacity in New Zealand stands at 80MW, with an additional 90MW identified as “future build capacity.” For regulators and electricity market operators, that pipeline underscores the long-term demand CDC could place on the national grid, even though most of the group’s headline growth remains across the Tasman.
Regional Market Position
The New Zealand operations represent a smaller fraction of the group’s overall Australasian strategy. The group is currently managing a pipeline aimed at 3.9GW of leasable capacity by 2040, an increase from previous targets of 2.6GW.
| Location | Leasable Capacity | Under Construction |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 220MW | 560MW |
| Melbourne | 130MW | 230MW |
| Canberra | 120MW | – |
| Perth | – | 200MW |
| New Zealand | 80MW | – |
The group recently secured the largest contract in Australian history-a 55MW agreement with an unnamed US firm. It is also competing for a 500MW portion of a 1.4-gigawatt contract for Anthropic. Internal sources indicate these specific expansions will be concentrated in Australia and will not extend to New Zealand, underscoring that CDC NZ is currently positioned as a strategically important but secondary node in the wider portfolio.
Corporate Governance and Intercompany Trade
The financial filings reveal tight integration between CDC NZ and other Infratil-owned assets. The company received $633,000 in rental and services income from One NZ, up from $227,000 the previous year. Conversely, One NZ charged CDC NZ $255,000 for telecommunications services, an increase from $130,000.
Such related-party transactions-alongside the FinCo loan-will be of interest to institutional investors and regulators assessing transfer pricing, tax efficiency and the extent to which value generated in New Zealand is retained locally.
Staff costs for the New Zealand subsidiary totaled $11 million, suggesting a local workforce of between 75 and 100 employees, primarily in engineering, operations and security roles.
Across Australia and New Zealand, CDC’s consolidated revenue rose to A$534 million in FY2026, up from A$446 million. Operational earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation, and fair value adjustments (ebitdaf) climbed to A$393 million from A$330 million, indicating that the underlying business continues to scale even as reported profits in New Zealand whipsaw with currency and valuation movements.
CDC’s FY2027 ebitdaf guidance was A$680 to A$720m, with the company on track to top A$1b in FY2028.
Infratil’s half-share in CDC was valued at A$9.2 billion in the June quarter, representing a 23.6% increase. This valuation is driven by forecast growth and a capital expenditure program that reached A$2.11 billion in the last financial year.
CDC NZ has entered a 14MW, 25-year contract expected to commence in FY2027. For long-horizon investors and public agencies that rely on data-resilient infrastructure, that anchor agreement signals that despite a headline loss in 2026, the company is locking in decades-long revenue streams that will shape New Zealand’s digital and energy landscape well into the 2050s.
