Shares in Coote Industrial have slumped as much as 21 per cent after the Maddington-based company reported a $4.5 million net loss for fiscal 2009.
The company had last month warned it expected to report a small profit for the 2009 financial year, after accounting for payment delays associated with related company Greentrains.
In its report released today, Coote said the settlement delay of the Greentrains payment coupled with softer business conditions had affected working capital, which in turn impacted on activity.
Coote had been waiting for more than a year for a payment of around $80 million from Greentrains after it bought locomotives and wagons from a Coote subsidiary.
Today, Coote said it had spent $57 million of the expected payment refurbishing the locomotives.
In July, Coote announced it had taken an equity stake in Greentrains and retained rolling stock assets valued at $17 million in order to settle the first $44 million tranche of the payment.
Around $34 million of the funds was used to pay down debt while the rest was set aside for working capital, Coote has previously said.
Coote said today that settlement of the second tranche of the Greentrains payment is expected shortly following outside interest in Greentrains operations. Settlement of the second tranche is expected to reduce Coote's debt by a further $25 million.
Net loss for the 2009 financial year was $4.5 million, compared with a net profit of $22 million in the previous year, while revenue was down 9 per cent to $317.4 million.
Shares in Coote dropped eight cents to a low of 30c before settling at 30.5c at 14:01 AEST.
