Global engineering and construction group Kentz Corporation has produced a solid lift in profit for the 12 months ended December 31, bolstered by a strong performance from its Australian operations.
Kentz today said its global revenue was up 6 per cent to $US1.66 billion, while Australasian revenue was up $US225 million on the previous year, rising to $US599.6 million.
Pre-tax profit was up 12.6 per cent to $US118 million, Kentz said.
The company will pay a final dividend of 10.9 US cents per share.
During 2013 Kentz completed the construction village for Chevron's Gorgon liquefied natural gas project, located near Onslow, while also winning additional works at Gorgon for electronics and telecommunications installation.
The company said it also made good progress on mechanical, electrical and instrumentation works at Gorgon in a joint venture with CB&I.
“This project is expected to be complete in mid-2015 and therefore will form a large part of the company’s revenues and business unit in 2014,” the company said in a statement.
“We continue to maintain excellent client relationships and are assisting in every way possible to deliver this scope of work in line with the agreed timeline to allow Chevron to produce first LNG as per their schedule.”
Kentz is also providing telecommunications work for the Ichthys liquefied natural gas processing plant in the Northern Territory, while midway through last month the company was awarded a $US640 million structural, mechanical and piping construction deal in a joint venture with UGL Resources.
Kentz chief executive Christian Brown said 2013 was a period of major success for the company, which passed a major milestone in its growth strategy.
“We delivered on our target for double digit earnings growth and completed the acquisition of Valerus Field Solutions on January 3, which adds to both our service offering and geographical footprint,” Mr Brown said in a statement.
Mr Brown said the company’s pipeline of work in hand had grown to $US4.1 billion.
“Our pipeline of prospects continues to grow, increasing 18 per cent during 2013, highlighting the opportunities that exist for our services in our core markets of the Middle East, Africa and Australasia,” he said.
“We forecast that 2014 performance will be ahead of our previous expectations with all three business units expected to perform strongly.”
