Wagners takes hit

WAGNERS has forecast a positive next 12 months, despite reporting a large drop in profits to shareholders.

The construction materials business’s 2020 financial year report, released last week, revealed it recorded an after-tax pro forma profit of $3.92 million, way down from the $13.7 million result the year prior.

Wagners statutory result, which factors in a new accounting standard that treats a company’s rental payments differently, was actually a $17,000 loss.

Company CEO Cameron Coleman said the ongoing cement pricing dispute with competitor Boral, which has been resolved from a business perspective, and the loss of major infrastructure projects hurt the company badly over the past 12 months.

“The key message that I’m trying to communicate to investors is (the result was because of) reduced cement sales due to the dispute with Boral, as well as a lack of major infrastructure work, leading us to shut down our precast business.

“It was a tough year, but we’ve got Boral back to normal supply levels, and we’ve got contracts secured so we expect continued growth.”

Mr Coleman said investors could expect business growth over the coming year.

“We’ve got $40 million of work in hand for our casting business through the CRR,” he said.

“The other key thing is our contract crushing services saw little revenue last year, but we already have the $30 million contract at the Carmichael Mine.

“We look forward to the increase in infrastructure activities with the government bringing forward shovel-ready projects to help us recover from COVID-19.”