SINGAPORE (Aug 30): AusGroup announced earnings of A$2.7 million ($2.7 million) for the 4Q ended June, up 16.1% from A$2.4 million a year ago on higher revenue and improved gross margin.
Revenue for the latest quarter grew 4.5% to A$126.6 million, which the group credits to overall strong performance from the energy and mineral process sectors.
Administration, marketing and other costs rose 15.6% to A$4.1 million over 4Q due to the effect of cost recoveries and operational efficiencies from project work.
Notably, parts of the business were restructured over the latest quarter due to the completion of major project work in order to right-size the business. This has resulted in non-cash impairments and restructuring provisions of A$14.8 million.
Gross margin for the quarter was 19.5% compared to 7.8% a year ago.
As at end June, cash and cash equivalents stood at A$37.9 million, up 11.8% from a year ago as the profits from major projects were converted to cash.
The latest set of quarterly results brings the group’s FY18 earnings up fourfold to A$13.5 million from A$3.3 million a year ago. In all, AusGroup deems FY18 a successful year for the group, with a full-year revenue of A$566.8 million representing its highest turnover in five years.
In its results filing to the SGX on Wednesday, AusGroup says its strengthened balance sheet comes as a result of reducing bank debt and another successful debt to equity conversion. This is rewarding and illustrates the conversion of earnings to cash to enable these payments to be made, it adds.
It also highlights that this is also the first time in five years the group’s net profit after tax has been greater than the financing costs for the financial year.
Going forward, the group says it believes the overall business is positioned for success.
“The strong Q4 FY2018 results represent the seventh consecutive quarter of profitability. The key focus for the group is still on safe working, operational delivery excellence and building a solid pipeline of new work,” comments AusGroup.
Shares in AusGroup closed 7% higher at 4.6 cents on Wednesday.
