Singapore-listed engineering contractors AusGroup and CivMec have achieved significant increases in half year profit, with both Perth-based companies reporting strong order books and consistent levels of demand.
AusGroup today announced a revenue increase of 12 per cent, to $306 million, driving a half year net profit of $9.1 million.
AusGroup chief executive Laurie Barlow said the company’s order book totalled $308 million as of February 14.
“The group continues to experience a consistent level of demand for pricing and tendering requests,” Mr Barlow said.
“The group expects these levels of pricing and tendering activities to continue as committed major projects enter their construction phase.
“This is expected to result in a strong project pipeline for FY2014 and beyond.”
Meanwhile, CivMec reported a half-year net profit of $S18.3 million ($14.3 million), on the back of a 103 per cent revenue jump.
CivMec reported revenue of $S239 million ($187 million) for the six months to December 31, up from $S118 million in the previous corresponding half-year.
The company’s net profit in the previous corresponding period was $S12 million ($9 million)
“With CivMec’s increasing recognition in the market, we are able to tender for more projects,” chairman James Fitzgerald said.
Mr Fitzgerald said the outlook in the oil and gas sector remained strong and positive, with the company seeing no evidence of a reversal in current project commitments.
As of December 31, the company’s order book totalled $S201 million ($157 million).
“The current slowdown in the mining and resource sector may bring some new opportunities as packages for fabrication, modular assembly and site works in Australia are likely to be smaller and well-suited to the multi-disciplinary nature of our business,” Mr Fitzgerals said.
The profit jump follow’s January’s announcement from CivMec that it had won $S50 million ($39 million) worth of contracts at Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone liquefied natural gas projects.
