Fulton Hogan, the privately-held civil construction firm, lifted first-half pre-tax earnings 13 per cent as its New Zealand and Fiji operations tracked ahead of expectations, and beefed up its forward order book with some big wins in the period.
Profit before tax rose to $112 million in the six months ended December 31 on revenue of $1.6 billion, the Christchurch-based company said in a statement. Managing director Nick Miller, who leaves at the end of March, said earnings were on track to deliver against the firm's annual budget with strong performances in New Zealand and Fiji.
"We are seeing our Fijian and New Zealand operations track ahead of budget, which is pleasing, with some promising developments in Australia as market activity lifts," Miller said. "Our land development business also continues to perform in line with expectation driven by strong demand in the Auckland market."
Last September, Fulton Hogan reported an 11 percent increase in net profit to $168.7m for the year ended June 30, 2016 on a 5.9 per cent increase in revenue to $3.1b. At the time, Miller described it as a "challenging environment" where multinational firms were competing more aggressively for large projects in New Zealand and Australia, and its forward order book was $1.9b at the balance date.
Since then, Fulton Hogan has had a number of "significant business wins during the six month period" with the order book at $4.6b, 31 per cent higher than the same time a year earlier.
