Macmahon confirms $90m contract

Macmahon Holdings has confirmed it is poised to receive a $90 million government contract as it responded to a query by the Australian Securities Exchange.

The company also said it was not aware of any potential takeover activity by shareholder Leighton Holdings.

The ASX yesterday queried Macmahon on the volume of its traded securities, which jumped from an average of 2 million shares being traded on-market last week to more than 13 million this week on no news.

Macmahon had yesterday responded to the query, saying it was not aware of any information that prompted the share volume jump.

However shortly after the initial reply, Macmahon today said it had been informed that it was likely to be awarded a material contract by a government department valued at about $90 million.

Shares in Macmahon gained 1.5 cents to 86.5c at 11:07 AEST.