Drilling services provider Ausdrill expects to deliver its best ever operational result in the first half of 2009-10.
The company updated the market on the expected improvement ahead of the release on Thursday of its first half results.
"Excluding unrealised foreign exchange adjustments and costs associated with the acquisition of Brandrill, the normalised result after tax for the current period is $23.1 million," the company told the ASX yesterday.
Including these the company expects net earnings to be around $21.2 million.
Ausdrill will pay an unchanged interim dividend of 5c a share.
The company’s shares rose 4c, or 2%, to $2.00
The result compares to a net profit of $25.05 million in the previous first half, which included takeover defence costs and unrealised foreign exchange gains.
"This is an exceptionally strong result given the difficult economic period and is Ausdrill’s best ever operational result," Ausdrill said in the statement.
Ausdrill took over Brandrill in December after a five month battle for control.
"Excluding the integration costs of Brandrill and any further appreciation in the Australian dollar, the company is on track to deliver an improved full year result for the year ended 30 June 2010," Ausdrill said.
Normalised revenue for the first half of 2009-10 fell 5% from $273 million to $259.3 million in the December half year.
"The decline in revenue resulted mainly from the completion of a major contract in Africa in December 2008 and as a consequence of the stronger Australian dollar in the current period," Ausdrill said.
"Current tendering activity is markedly higher and the company expects to win significant additional work in the short term," the company said.
Shares in Internet service provider iiNet eased yesterday, despite the group reaffirming full-year guidance after posting a 6.3% rise in first-half profit.
The shares closed down 5c at $2.13, a fall of 1.8% in a market that was up 1.8% on the day.
iiNet said profit for the six months to December 31 was $12.13 million, up from $11.4 million in the previous corresponding period.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 8% on the previous corresponding period to $33.58 million.
Dividend was cut to 3c a share for the first half from 5c a share a year ago.
The company said this was in line with the previous half year, given the cost of successfully defending a copyright case.
The company put those at $3.8 million before tax and $2.7 million after tax.
"iiNet’s positive half-year result, combined with an improved domestic economic outlook and exciting pipeline of product and content initiatives, provides a strong foundation for continued growth over the 2010 financial year and beyond," chief executive Michael Malone said in a statement.
"iiNet reaffirms its previous 2010 full-year guidance of underlying EBITDA in the range between $75 million to $80 million."
The company said total subscribers were up 5% in the half to 799,817.
Product innovation was a key driver of customer growth, it said, with its all-in-one phone and internet product, BoB, selling over 21,000 units since its launch in August.
About 76% of those units are sales to new customers, iiNet said.
"Our customers can continue to look forward to additional product innovations, including IPTV in the near future," Mr Malone said.
And Victorian-based food manufacturer (Nana’s and Four’n Twenty pies, Herbert Adams), Patties Foods, will pay a higher interim dividend of 3c a share, up from 2c a year ago, after returning to solid profits in the December half year.
The company said yesterday it expected that profit for the full year would be up, in the range of "underlying NPAT (Net Profit After Tax) of $15.5m – $17.5m".
The company earned a net profit of $11 million for the year to June 30, 2009 and $15 million in 2008.
The company delivered an underlying NPAT of $8.5 million for the first half of the December half, up 62.4% on the previous corresponding period.
Investors initially liked the news, pushing the shares up to $1.27 for a small gain, but sold it off and it finished in the red, down 1c to $1.24.
That was a fall of 2.4% on a day when the overall market was up nearly 2%.
The company’s Chairman, Mr Chris Riordan, said in the statement: “The improved trading performance reflects management’s focus on driving the fundamentals of the business and provides an indication of the Company’s underlying earning capacity. “
Managing Director, Mr Greg Bourke, said, “The new management team is working closely together to drive increased profits through top line growth, embedding factory efficiencies and minimising costs”.
The principal drivers of this improved trading result were strong sales growth from improved market shares, increased category growth and a continued pipeline of new products and increased manufacturing efficiencies as a resul
