Adelaide Brighton hits FY06 record protfit
Cement and lime producer Adelaide Brighton Ltd has produced a record full year profit and expects to continue to grow its business this year, despite a patchy housing market.
Brighton today announced a record net profit after tax of $102.1m for the full year ending December 31, up 12.3 per cent on the previous corresponding period.
Managing director Mark Chellew said the result was driven by sustained demand for cement, improvement in its concrete products business and growth in its lime business.
Mr Chellew said Brighton was well positioned to outperform its competition this year, brushing aside the shaky housing market.
"We are an integrated construction materials and lime producing company and we are heavily influenced on the growing resources and engineering sector, so we rely less on the housing sector than our peers," he said.
The weakening construction activity in the NSW housing market did little to deter concrete margins, Mr Chellew said.
The concrete products sector, C&M Brick, recorded a $5.8 million improvement in EBIT on fiscal 2005 to $8.8 million for fiscal 2006.
The cement business will grow alongside the consumer price index measure, while the concrete/masonry business will grow further when the NSW market recovers, he said.
The long term outlook is "very positive" driven mostly by expected growth in the lime business, which currently makes up about 20 per cent of the business, he said.
"I think lime is the primary driver of growth over the next five years," he said.
Revenue for fiscal 2006 increased by 10.3 per cent to a record $791.2 million. Published under Cement News
