Lots of good news stories around on the results. Looks like they suprised the market. Here is a sample:
SHARES in building products supplier Boral zoomed almost 9 per cent in response to its 36pc rise in first half net profit.
It has also forecast full year profit to be 20 per cent higher than last financial year.
Boral on Wednesday posted a net profit for the half year to December 31 of $92.3 million, up from $67.9 million.
Revenue in the period was $2.3881 billion, up 2.5 per cent from $2.3296 billion in the prior first half.
Boral says it expects to achieve net profit for the full year between $160 million and $175 million, with the low end of this range representing a 20 per cent increase on underlying net profit in the prior year.
``The fundamental rebuild of Queensland and its infrastructure could have a favourable impact on the second half of the year,'' Boral said in a statement.
At 4pm CDT Boral shares were 41c higher at $5.13, an 8.7 per cent rise.
The brick and tile company had warned last November of a bumpy start to the 2010/11 financial year, due to poor housing figures in the US and wet weather on Australia's east coast.
That was after reporting a full year net loss of $90.5 million for 2009/10, when the company took $285 million in write-downs on loss making businesses.
But Boral said on Wednesday the first half results reflected early signs of operational and sales improvements undertaken as part of a turnaround strategy launched by chief executive Mark Selway last year.
``In terms of portfolio re-alignment, we are now out of scaffold and precast in Australia and the benefits are evident in our first half results,'' Boral said.
Cash generated from operations in the first half fell to $81 million, down from $196 million, due to persistent rain on the east coast which delayed construction activity in December.
Boral says construction materials, its largest division, had a ``difficult and mixed first half to the year''.
``Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria all performed strongly, while NSW and Queensland were rain-impacted for much of the second quarter.''
The Queensland market would be the largest variable to the company's outlook in 2011.
Boral said its Queensland operations were up and running once more and mobile equipment was being moved to Queensland in anticipation of strong demand in the final quarter of 2010/11.
``Performance in January 2011 has been significantly impacted by delays to site access and continued weather, but beyond this we are ideally placed to support Queensland's massive clean up and rebuild program which is expected to last for years ahead,'' Boral said.
Boral declared an interim dividend of 7.5 cents, fully franked, up from 7.0 cents in the first half of 2009/10.
