Opus Exceeds Expectations

Opus Exceeds Expectations

Opus International Consultants has reported a solid performance for 2011, with Operating Revenue up by 7 percent to $393m and Net Profit After Tax up by 11.5 percent on the previous year to $24.5m.

“2011 was a challenging but successful year for Opus in spite of difficult conditions in some economies” says Opus’ Chairman, Kerry McDonald.

“Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT), of $31m was in line with our result in 2010 while our Net Profit has increased by $2.5m to $24.5m,” said Mr McDonald.

“During the year we continued to strengthen our position in New Zealand and Australia. Revenue in these markets grew 6% and 8% respectively to produce EBIT of $27.8m in NZ and $3.2m in Australia. The UK market continues to be challenging as the more serious effects of the global recession and government austerity measures continue to make trading conditions difficult, resulting in a loss of $1.2m in that market. In Canada, following the successful integration of Opus DaytonKnight, our profitability has trended upward returning an EBIT of $1.0m, up $1.3m on the 2010 result.”

Opus’ overall strong performance and operating cashflow continue to support a healthy net cash position. Mr McDonald said the Board was pleased to announce a fully imputed Final Dividend of 4.7 cents per share. “This brings the total Dividend for the year to 8.5 cents per share, and represents a 10 percent increase over last year.”

Opus Managing Director and Chief Executive, Dr David Prentice said “Opus is strongly focused on meeting the challenges in an increasingly competitive market and in a global economy characterised by significant uncertainty. We have had to be more nimble and responsive to the changing business environment, with greater collaboration and work sharing right across the business. This is broadening our capacity and capability to pursue opportunities and is having a clear impact on performance, including in the UK where management had been very proactive. Our growth will continue to be supplemented by building on targeted acquisitions such as the agreement in late November to acquire Coffey Rail Pty Ltd, the 50-strong rail engineering consultancy in Melbourne Australia. We are also targeting business growth in emerging economies, including in conjunction with our major shareholder Opus Group Bhd and this work is making good progress.”

“Looking forward, the markets in which we do business are continually shifting and our clients are looking for greater value and efficiency gains in the development and management of their infrastructure. This is reinforcing the need to be smarter and sharper. While turbulent times can be unsettling, they can also bring about more innovative and collaborative thinking and valuable business improvement.”

ENDS

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