Revenue, profit rises at Kentz

Revenue at engineering and construction group Kentz rose 9.5 per cent to $704.7 million last year, while profit also rose for the year, the company said today.

Profit before tax rose 9.2 per cent to $44.5 million, while basic earnings per share were up 5.5 per cent to 26.46 cent. Kentz is proposing a final dividend of 4.0 cent per share.

The company described its performance as "solid", despite the volatile world markets.

"Sales for 2009 have increased by 9.5 per cent and we have achieved another record backlog, up 49.2 per cent year-on-year, providing a strong basis to continue to perform," Kentz said in a statement. "The re-organisation of the company into three GBUs has also laid the foundation for continued growth, with each business unit increasing in geographic reach and sales through new awards, during the period."

The company's backlog stood at $1.5 billion by the end of January 2010, the largest in its history.

"Our strategy of focusing on oil and gas, petrochemicals and energy projects in developing regions has been highly successful, and we continue to build on the strong foundations in our core markets," the firm said. "In addition, we have seen a significant increase in our metals and mining business in Southern Africa and Australia, which we expect to continue in the long term."