Murray & Roberts Holdings Limited’s results under review for the six months to the 31st of December 2020 have been negatively affected by the pandemic.
The engineering and mining contractor’s comparable six-month period to the 31st of December 2019 (FY2020 H1) ended before the outbreak of the pandemic and stakeholders were advised that when compared to this reporting period, Murray & Reports will report a decline in total earnings per share and headline earnings per share for FY2021 H1.
The group’s decline in earnings have been attributed to the impact of the prolonged Covid-19 restrictions (especially in the mining platform), a disappointing result by the power, industrial and water platform as well as a lower fair value adjustment profit from the investment in the Bombela Concession Company.
However, the group has largely recovered from the initial and major FY2020 H2 Covid-19 restrictions impact and it is well positioned to operate successfully through this short to medium term uncertainty.
Murray & Roberts expect to report FY2021 H1 results within the following ranges:
During the past three years, the group has broadened its market focus to mitigate market cyclicality and it has subsequently renamed its business platforms to better reflect the market sectors in which it operates. This decision resulted in significant order book growth which has increased to all-time high levels.
As announced in its business update published in November 2020, the group’s results for FY2021 H2 are expected to be better than H1 with the adaption to declining Covid-19 restrictions and work commencing on recently awarded contracts.
Murray & Roberts’ quality order book of R60.5 billion (FY2020: R54.2 billion) and near orders of R19.9 billion (FY2020: R11.4 billion) as at December 2020, it believes it is well positioned for a strong return to profitability in FY2022 and to achieve meaningful earnings growth in the short to medium term with this view based on the expected growth in earnings contributions from the energy, resources, infrastructure, and mining platforms.
The group intends to publish its interim financial results for the six months ended to the 31st of December via a SENS announcement on Wednesday, the 3rd of March 2021.
