Bradken FY profit slumps on court charge

Mining services group Bradken (BKN) expects its fiscal 2014 performance will largely be comparable to its current year as mine production increases steadily.

In the year to June 30, Bradken posted an underlying net profit of $96.1 million, above its guidance in June for $92 million and in line with consensus forecasts for $96.9 million.

The company posted a net profit of $66.9 million, a 33.4% decline on the $100.5 million recorded in 2012.

The result included a one-off pre-tax charge of $30.4 million relating to the Federal Court proceedings associated with the Norcast acquisition, which Bradken said will be written back to profit if the company's appeal is successful. 

Revenue in the same period was $1.32 billion, a 9.5% fall on the previous corresponding period's $1.46 billion.

The group announced a fully-franked final dividend of 18 cents, payable on September 13 to shareholders on the register as at August 23. Combined with the group's interim dividend of 20 cents, Bradken's total dividend for the year is 38 cents, fully-franked.

In 2012, Bradken paid a fully-franked dividend of 40 cents. 

"The first half of 2013-14 will be challenging, but overall we expect the year to be broadly comparable to 2012-13," said managing director Brian Hodges (see Inside the mining services disaster).