Engineering company Downer EDI aims to keep its profit steady this financial year as it tries to navigate through the slowdown in the mining sector.

Downer EDI made a net profit of $204 million in the 2012/13 financial year, up from $113 million in 2011/12 – a result affected by a $73 million impairment on its NSW rail project.

Underlying profit in 2012/13 was $215 million, up 10 per cent from $195 million in the previous year.

Chief executive Grant Fenn said he was proud the company was one of few exposed to the mining industry to achieve its profit guidance for the year.

But he warned the current financial year will be a difficult one for the company as its customers in the mining sector cut costs.

“It is expected that the 2014 financial year will be characterised by a reduction in new major capital works in the resources sector (and) a greater emphasis by mining customers on optimising their volumes and cost of production,” he said.

“As a result, there is a higher level of uncertainty in revenue for the 2014 financial year than in the prior year.”

The company is targeting a profit of about $215 million for the year and says its focus is on securing its revenue base and driving down costs.

Downer has already announced it would cut 185 jobs from its workforce at the Goonyella Riverside mine in Queensland.

But Mr Fenn was more positive about the company’s Waratah train contract, which is providing new trains to Sydney’s train network.

The project has seen considerable delays and has been the source of significant losses for the company, but Mr Fenn says it is now back on track and will deliver its 78th train by mid-2014.

“The project has gone from being a pariah to being a jewel in (our) rail business,” he said.

“We won’t recover our losses but this train and the experience we’ve gained on it is now the major platform for our passenger maintenance business.”

Downer also announced it has won contracts to roll out the national broadband network (NBN) to 300,000 properties in Brisbane and Melbourne.