Skilled Group (SKE) has reported a full-year, bottomline loss of $16.7 million for the 2014-15 financial year, its last as an independent company ahead of its takeover later this year by Programmed Maintenance Services (PRG).
The loss was taken as part of a clean up of Skilled accounts ahead of that merger. The clean up involved a non-cash impairment loss of $60 million which was announced earlier this week.
Skilled accepted an offer from Programmed in June to merge and create a $700m combined company after knocking back an earlier approach in January.
Underlying net profit for Skilled slipped 2% to $54 million in the year to June, on a 9.3% rise in revenue to $2.05 billion.
Skilled will pay a 9.5 cents a share final dividend, its last payout. That’s up from 7.5 cents a year. The total for the 2014-15 year is an unchanged 17 cents a share.
SKE 1Y – Skilled Group leaves with FY15 loss
Skilled CEO Angus McKay handed down his first and last full-year result, having joined the company earlier in January.
The details of Skilled’s results show the problems that will still confront the company and its acquirer after the merger is completed.
The slide in mining investment and commodity prices has wreaked enormous damage on Skilled core business – labour hire services.
Earnings before interest and tax, depreciation and amortisation in the group’s workforce services division slumped 35% to $22.8 million in the year to June, while revenue in workforce serviced dropped 9.6% to $799.4 million.
Engineering and marine services produced a better result, boosted by the acquisition of the Thomas & Coffey business in February of last year. Pretax earnings jumped 37.3% to $80 million.
Angus McKay is making way for Programmed’s managing director Chris Sutherland who will run the merged group assuming Skilled shareholders approve a $750 million merger at a meeting scheduled for September 25.
Under the merger deal, Skilled shareholders will receive 0.55 Programmed shares and 25 cents cash for each Skilled share they own.
Skilled shares rose 3.8% to $1.64.
