Key highlights for the half year include:
- Revenue up 75.9% to $417.9 million (H1FY08: $237.6 million)
- NPAT* up 70.5% to $17.6 million (H1FY08: $10.3 million)
- Cashflow from operating activities of $27.0 million (H1FY08: $23.0 million)
- Earnings per share* up 68.9% to 15.7 cents per share (H1FY08: 9.3 cents per share)
- Fully franked interim dividend of 8.5 cents per share (H1FY08: 7.0 cents per share).
Coffey Managing Director Roger Olds said the company’s record performance, delivered during a time of significant economic volatility, showed the value of the company’s diversified business model.
“Our businesses have performed strongly across the board. We have had substantial organic and acquisition growth and we have been able to take advantage of governments around the world increasing spending on infrastructure and aid programmes.”
“We have continued to focus on cash management and managed to offset the $8 million rise in the value of our foreign net debt from exchange rate movements together with the working capital absorbed by the increase in revenue, to keep net debt similar to June 30 2008. This means we have approximately $100m of cash and debt available. Our current facility runs until February 2012.”
“We do not plan to raise additional capital in the current market and will continue to focus on keeping debt at acceptable levels through strong working capital management. We will explore acquisition opportunities that arise, however if none are forthcoming we will be well placed to maintain strong dividends.”
“Earnings per share (EPS) before amortisation, vendor earn-out and vendor share-based payment expense increased 68.9 per cent to 15.7 cents per share. The capital injected into the company to pursue our growth strategy over the past six years is now yielding substantial benefits through EPS growth and a strong balance sheet.”
The directors declared a fully franked interim dividend of 8.5 cents per share, an increase of 21.4 per cent on the prior corresponding period.
Mr Olds said that as part of the transformation program started one year ago, Coffey had established a new leadership structure and appointed a new executive team during the six months.
“In addition, the transformation program is assisting us to build a unified global culture, increase efficiency and add more value to our clients.”
“During the period we also completed two acquisitions, Bovell, Freeman & Holley, a specialist project management firm based in Johannesburg and Civil Lab, a laboratory testing business based in Auckland. More recently, we announced the acquisition of a Sydney-based concrete and soil testing business, Testrite,” Mr Olds said.
“There is no doubt that the outlook for the world is challenging and we do expect conditions to worsen before they show signs of recovery. However we are investing in our business to increase our market share and efficiency, with the aim of generating continued growth through the next two to three years.”
“Coffey is well positioned to benefit from the proposed increase in government expenditure on infrastructure and international development. We still believe growth is possible and that will continue to be a key part of our focus during the coming years. We expect it will be more modest than past years, but any growth would be a good outcome given the current global economic events.”
* Before amortisation, vendor earn-out and vendor share-based payment expense.
-ends-
Media contacts:
Diana Krause, Communications Manager, Coffey International Limited
P: (+61) (3) 9473 1300; M: (+61) 420 959 942; E: diana_krause@coffey.com
Brigitte Claney at Mendleson Communication
P: (+61) (3) 9827 0422; M: (+ 61) 412 189 558; E: brigitte@mendleson.com.au
Investor contact:
Urs Meyerhans, Director Finance and Chief Financial Officer, Coffey International Limited
P: (+61) (2) 8404 4300; M: (+61) 438 772 099 E: urs_meyerhans@coffey.com
Summary performance for the Coffey group for six months ending
31 December 2008 and 2007
|
31 December 2008
$’000 |
31 December 2007
Restated
$’000 |
Change
% |
Revenue from continuing operations |
417,925 |
237,604 |
+75.9% |
Fee revenue |
261,926 |
162,583 |
+61.1% |
Operating EBITDA (pre vendor earn-out and share-based payment expense) |
36,297 |
19,805 |
+83.3% |
Depreciation |
(3,732) |
(3,086) |
|
Amortisation of intangibles |
(2,440) |
(453) |
|
Vendor earn-out and share-based payment expense |
(1,640) |
(1,743) |
|
EBIT |
28,485 |
14,523 |
+96.1% |
Net finance expense |
(5,558) |
(2,524) |
|
Profit before income tax |
22,927 |
11,999 |
+91.1% |
Income tax expense and minority interests |
(9,418) |
(3,879) |
|
Net Profit after income tax attributable to members |
13,509 |
8,120 |
+66.4% |
Profit after tax before amortisation and vendor share-based payment expense |
17,589 |
10,316 |
+70.5% |
EPS before amortisation and vendor share-based payment expense (cps) |
15.7 |
9.3 |
+68.9% |
Basic EPS (cps) |
12.0 |
7.3 |
|
Diluted EPS (cps) |
11.0 |
7.0 |
|
Dividend per share (cps) |
8.5 |
7.0 |
+21.4% |
Net debt |
(93,648) |
(93,942) |
|
Net debt to equity plus debt |
32.6% |
32.4% |
|
Interest Cover (times) |
6.5 |
7.8 |
|
Net Assets |
194,051 |
196,062 |
|
Segment Results for the Coffey group for six months ending 31 December 2008 and 2007
|
Segment Fee Revenue
$’000 |
Operating EBITDA*
$’000 |
|
2008 |
2007 |
% Change |
2008 |
2007 |
% Change |
Consulting |
154,730 |
109,408 |
+41.4% |
30,883 |
22,695 |
+36.1% |
International Development |
71,436 |
22,217 |
+221.5% |
12,969 |
1,420 |
+813.3% |
Project Management |
37,280 |
31,652 |
+17.8% |
7,195 |
3,994 |
+80.1% |
Eliminations |
(1,520) |
(694) |
|
- |
- |
|
Unallocated expenses |
- |
- |
|
(14,750) |
(8,304) |
|
Total Group |
261,926 |
162,583 |
+61.1% |
36,297 |
19,805 |
+83.3% |
*Operating EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and share-based payment expense in relation to shares issued to vendors through business combinations.
