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wembley stadium breakeven Shares in Multiplex Group dived today after the company said its redevelopment of London's Wembley Stadium would only break even, having previously indicated it would be solidly profitable.

Shares in the property developer fell by as much as $1.08 to $4.50 after the company said it had been forced to write back profit on the project, which is expected to be completed in December.

Multiplex today reported a net profit of $36.973 million for the first half of 2004/05 and said it expected group net profit for the financial year 2004/05 to be broadly around $235.3 million. advertisement

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Multiplex chief executive Andrew Roberts said the recent reassessment of both finishing trades and a replacement steel contract had resulted in an overall increase in the cost of the Wembley project.

"We have written the project back to a break even situation," Mr Roberts said during a profit results briefing in Sydney.

He said Multiplex was actively pursuing a range of claims against relevant contracting parties, which the company believed would ultimately exceed the level needed to support break even position.

Shaw Stockbroking head dealer James Spiteri said Multiplex had indicated last year that the project would be solidly profitable.

"The market's got doubts over their ability to deliver on the promise now that their next half will actually present added profitability to make up for the lost revenue out of the Wembley project," he said.

"They've disappointed the market in this particular case and now the market is judging as a group that's got a risk profile."

The disappointing news aside, Multiplex said it was pleased with its its first half result.

"This is a solid result for the group, which has successfully delivered on stated strategies through the Duelguide plc and Ronin acquisitions, significantly enhancing the scale of both our development and construction pipelines and Multiplex Property Trust," Mr Roberts said.

Aggregated net profit, before stapled eliminations and minority interests was $91.7 million, an 87 per cent increase on the previous corresponding period.

"We remain on track in terms of the forecast of the full year NPAT (net profit after tax) - some $235 million before stapling eliminations," Mr Roberts said.

An interim distribution of 15.81 cents was declared, which compares with two cents in the prior period.

Multiplex shares finished 91 cents lower at $4.67.