Opus International Consultants is already seeing benefits from its new business strategy and that momentum has continued into 2017, shareholders were told today.
At today's annual meeting in Wellington, chairman Kerry McDonald, who also announced his retirement in the next few months, said while the 2016 result was disappointing there were key elements that were "positive and encouraging," including in Australia and Canada which have been the two areas of "greatest difficulty".
The Wellington-based company reported a loss of $29.9 million, or 20 cents per share, in calendar 2016, compared to a profit of $16.7m, or 11 cents, a year earlier.
Opus's Australian and Canadian units were hit hard by the collapse in oil prices, helping spur a restructure of its business last year along sector lines of buildings, water and transportation instead of country-based divisions.
McDonald said the changes were essential to ensure a viable future for the business and included a complete revamp of things like the company's project management system. The new strategy isn't a simple tweak, but is a "completely different way of doing business," he said. Among other things, it takes into account fast moving technology and innovation and is beginning to bear fruit.