Ausenco surges on Chile contracts
New international contracts worth $177 million have given engineering company Ausenco's dwindling share price a boost.
Six weeks after reporting a $25 million annual loss, Ausenco gave investors some cheer by announcing work at two copper mines in Chile.
It has also secured preferred contractor status on two other projects in South America - one copper and one gold.
Ausenco said two contracts at Newcrest Mining's Lihir Island gold mine in Papua New Guinea had been extended to December 2016 and work on a Mozambique coal project for Vale had been expanded.
The contractor's shares yesterday closed up 3.5�, or about 16 per cent, to 26�. Earlier in the day the stock hit a high of 31.5�.
Chief executive Zimi Meka gave credit to a diversified, full-service offering, with much of the new work coming from repeat clients.
"Consistent with our previous statements, the bulk of our new project wins and potential client inquiries to date are coming from copper and gold projects in the Americas and asset optimisation opportunities globally," Mr Meka said.
"We see a number of growth opportunities across several geographies, industries and commodities in 2015 and believe we are in a solid position to capitalise on this growth."
In calendar 2014, 88 per cent of Ausenco's $357 million revenue came from overseas, and 74 per cent from the Americas. The full-year result was affected by about $17 million in one-off costs.
The company is tipping higher revenue this year and cost cuts to bolster earnings.
