Siteserv reports pretax profit of €9.3m

Infrastructure and utility-support services group Siteserv has reported a pretax profit of €9.3 million for the year to April 30th, down from €12.3 million on the previous period.

Revenues rose to €228.6 million from €133.8 million while earnings per share dipped to 7.5 cent from 10.1 cent.

After writing off the €38 million carrying value of its access division the company reported a full-year loss after tax and one-time items was €29.4 million against a year-earlier profit of €10.3 million

Siteserv said revenues in this division were dependent on residential, commercial and agricultural construction and that trading in this area was “expected to be depressed in the medium term”. The write down includes property, plant and equipment held by this division.

Despite a difficult year the access unit remained profitable reporting operating profit of €600,000 on revenues of €17.3 million.

Siteserv has three operating divisions and bought Deborah Services in Britain in February 2008. Deborah provides support services to the energy industry and provided revenues of €104.9 million, accounting for 46 per cent of the group total.

Davy described the results as “solid” in a note to investors.

It said the stand-out performance came from the infrastructure and utilities division which posted operating profits of €18.8 million on revenues of €106.4 million.

These were driven by a strong performance from Sierra Communications, Roankabin and Holgate Fencing.

Management said it has cut costs by €3 million last year in a series of measures that were expected lead to annualised savings of €8.5 million.

Siteserv had net debt of €149.5 million at the end of the year, down from €153.6 million a year ago. It had €4.6 million in cash at year end. Over the the year interest repayments rose from €6 million to €11.2 million.

The company said the outlook was extremely challenging with trading sharply down on last year. It noted that 46 per cent of its revenues come from the UK and said further fluctuations in the value of sterling would impact on its results for this year.

At 9am shares in Siteserv were unchanged at 8 cent giving the company a market capitalisation of €9.65 million.