GRD takes a $50m hit from Sydney sale

Engineering and infrastructure firm GRD says it will take a $50 million one-off hit from the sale of its loss-making Global Renewables Eastern Creek Facility in Sydney to Emergent Capital.

The sale of the facility was announced last month when GRD flagged it will be hit by a significant one-off charge.

In a statement, the company said the sale is effective from the end of December with Emergent taking 100 per cent equity in the company owning and operating the facility, including $40 million in project finance debt.

GRD chief executive Cliff Lawrenson said the exit from the business would occur at a time when the group's core engineering and project delivery business, GRD Minproc, continues to perform solidly in the challenging world resources market.

He said the sale will have a positive impact on cash and normalised operating profit for 2009.

GRD will record a one-off accounting loss of around $50 million before tax.

GRD's Global Renewables division will continue and will focus on the Lancashire Wast Project in the United Kingdom, which is currently under construction.

Shares in GRD were down 0.5 cents to 37.5c at 12:00 AEDT.