Australia: Adelaide Brighton's net profit has fallen by 9% to US$55m in the first six months of 2013 from US$60.1m in the same period in 2012. Managing Director of Adelaide Brighton, Mark Chellew, blamed the fall on weak residential and commercial building activity.
"While headline earnings fell, modest growth in underlying net profit on healthy sales growth is encouraging," said Chellew. The Australian building materials manufacturer and lime producer's sale revenue rose by 4.5% to US$523m from US$501m. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell by 7.2% to US$81m from US$87.3m.
Adelaide Brighton expects that cement and clinker sales in 2013 will be similar to those in 2012, with demand from projects in South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory offset by general problems with the residential and commercial building sectors. In its press release, Adelaide Brighton also mentioned that the Australian Carbon Tax cost the company US$1.81m after tax in the half-year and it is estimated to read US$4.52m for the entire year. However due to policy statements from the political parties ahead of the September 2013 Australian federal election and the company strategies to reduce its carbon output, it reckoned that carbon pricing is unlikely to have any major impact on long term growth.
