Outlook hits CSR shares

RISING power costs and concerns about the outlook for housing construction have overshadowed a lift in first-half profit at CSR.

The building construction goods supplier yesterday posted a net profit of $118.7 million for the six months to September, up 4 per cent on a year ago. But its shares tumbled after it gave a lacklustre assessment of the outlook, closing 5.49 per cent down at $4.48.

The profit lift was largely the result of an earnings jump in CSR’s core building products business, and of land sales.