Johannesburg - Construction and engineering group‚ Murray & Roberts
[JSE:MUR] said despite an attributable loss of R736m for the year ended June‚ it has finished its “recovery” stage and is preparing for growth.
Revenue from continuing operations rose 16% to R35.4bn from R30.5bn last year‚ with the group having a year-end order book of R45.3bn.
No dividend was declared while the diluted headline loss per share narrowed to 246 cents from a 454 cents loss a year earlier.
It says the average margin on the order book is within the strategic range of 5% to 7.5%.
Last year Murray & Roberts showed an attributable loss of R1.7bn‚ but CEO Henry Laas said on Wednesday the group’s recovery has been “exceptional” in the context of achieving objectives set out more than a year ago.
“Two of the five operating platforms that are mostly dependant on the South African construction sector‚ continued to experience challenging market conditions. However‚ the group’s resilience was ensured through the diversity of its operations and markets‚” he said.
The company achieved operating commencement milestones for the Gautrain‚ having resolved water ingress problems in the Rosebank to Park Stations section of tunnel.
It also said it discharged commitments on the Gorgon Pioneer Material Offloading Facility in Australia‚ a major offshore gas project. But this had taken longer than anticipated‚ and had been at greater cost.
However‚ Laas said arbitration rulings on the first three disputes on this project‚ relating primarily to scope changes from the tendered design‚ had been awarded in Murray & Roberts’s favour.
The group also said it had resolved major commercial issues on Eskom’s Medupi power station contract in the year.
Arbitration on the Dubai International Airport contract was only expected to be resolved towards the end of calendar 2013.
The steel business‚ including the company’s Cisco mini-mill in Cape Town‚ was disposed of at book value subsequent to the year-end in two separate transactions. The transaction‚ excluding Cisco‚ was still subject to regulatory approval‚ the company said.