Opus International Consultants achieved a growth in earnings in the year to December 31 on little changed revenue after successfully adjusting to a more difficult trading environment.Earnings before interest and tax (ebit) rose 5.3% to $25.3 million and n
Opus International Consultants achieved a growth in earnings in the year to December 31 on little changed revenue after successfully adjusting to a more difficult trading environment.
Earnings before interest and tax (ebit) rose 5.3% to $25.3 million and net profit after tax rose 6.3% to $18.6 million, while revenue fell 1% to $367.8 million.
The company is paying a final dividend of 4.1c a share on April 1. The total dividend for the year of 6.7c a share is an increase of one cent per share on 2008.
"2009 was a challenging but ultimately successful year for Opus in spite of the serious recession in many economies," chairman Kerry McDonald said.
The company had a very difficult first quarter and marketing and cost management moves were intensified and some staff reductions were initiated.
Reduced working hours and reduced salaries were introduced in some cases and remuneration increases at all levels were made wholly or substantially conditional on the achievement of performance targets.
In addition, cross region resource sharing, which has always been a strength of Opus' operation, was further increased.
The New Zealand business had an ebit profit of $28.8 million, the Australian and Canadian operations reported ebit profits of $1.6 million and $1.1 million respectively. The UK business had an ebit loss of $6.6 million.
"There are undoubtedly still challenges ahead for the different parts of the business, particularly in the UK given its economic situation," Mr McDonald said.
"The 2009 performance, however, underlined the company's ability to respond and meet the challenge, and its potential to benefit in future from its ongoing continuous improvement activities remains strong."
Opus grew out of the former Ministry of Works and Development.
