Leighton Holdings has confirmed previous full year guidance for net profit of $600 million to $650 million, after the company conducted a forecasting review.
The guidance does not include the estimated pre-tax capital gain of $225 million ($163 million after tax) from the sale of the HWE Iron Ore entities and assets in Western Australia.
Chief executive Hamish Tyrwhitt said the forecasting review had shown that the financial position of the Victorian desalination project had deteriorated, causing an additional charge of $192 million.
“But the review also identified gains and opportunities across our portfolio of more than 400 projects including contract mining, offshore oil and gas, and across the civil/building/infrastructure construction markets,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
Mr Tyrwhitt said the HWE Iron Ore sale would helped offset the desalination plant charge.
Leighton also forecast that the company expected to report a profit after tax of about $250 million for the first half, excluding the gain from the HWE Iron Ore business sale.
“Looking forward, we remain in a solid position with work in hand of around $44 billion as at 30 September 2011 and our core markets continuing to provide substantial opportunities,” Mr Tyrwhitt said.
