Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW), the construction products company, released its half-year report to the ASX this morning.
Brickworks is a building materials company with several subsidiaries including Austral and Bowral Bricks.
Here are some of the news headlines from Brickwork’s HY report compared to last year:
- Building products revenue up 7% to $396.2 million
- Underlying day to day trading, or EBIT, up 0.4% to $142.8 million (click here to learn what EBIT means)
- Reported profit down 6.8% to $97 million
- Interim dividend up 5.9% to 18 cents
Brickworks Chairman Mr Robert Millner said: “This record result reflects the strong contribution from building products, the property trust and investments – again demonstrating the benefit of the company’s diversification strategy which has consistently grown net asset value over the long term.”
Management said that the key Austral Bricks business was able to achieve higher earnings in every state. Building product margins increased and there was strong growth of premium products. Over the last six months, Brickworks acquired UrbanStone, the country’s leading wetcast paving manufacturer and launched products like solar roof tiles and premium glass bricks from Italy.
Brickworks’ share of the net asset value of the property trust increased by $31 million to $511 million. The cash dividends received from investments increased by 3.2% to $32.7 million compared to last year, the value of its 42.72% holding of Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL) was $1.762 billion at 31 January 2018.
Outlook
Managing Director Mr Lindsay Partridge said: “Building activity across the east coast remains elevated and continues to drive strong demand. In New South Wales and Victoria there remains a significant pipeline of work that has translated to a very strong order book in these states.”
Takeaway
The Brickworks share price is down 0.39% so far today, according to Google Finance.
Brickworks said that overall the short to medium term outlook for building products remains strong, with price increases already implemented, the strong order book on the east coast and the restructuring initiatives undertaken in the West expected to underpin 2018 earnings.
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