CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Australian professional services company WorleyParsons Ltd. (WYGPF.PK, WYGPY.PK, WOR.AX) on Tuesday said its outlook for the year, provided at the full year results in August, remains unchanged. The company expects to deliver improved earnings in fiscal 2019.
Further, the company on Monday announced its agreement to acquire the Energy, Chemicals and Resources unit of Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (JEC) for a total enterprise value of $3.3 billion, which is approximately A$4.6 billion.
This acquisition is expected will propel WorleyParsons into global leadership positions across numerous sectors in which it operates, such as Hydrocarbons, Chemicals and Minerals and Metals sectors.
Jacobs ECR's 2018 financial year revenue was $3.4 billion with associated earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortisation of $286 million. They employ 30,900 people across 27 countries.
With the acquisition, WorleyParsons will employ over 57,600 people in 51 countries around the world.
Regarding the outlook, the company noted that its fiscal 2019 results will be impacted by the Jacobs ECR transaction, including holding equity proceeds until closing.
According to the firm, its resources and energy customers are increasing early phase activity for the next cycle of investment driven by continued improvement in market conditions.
Further, the company said it expects this year's interim dividend per share to be not less than last year's interim dividend.
In its fiscal 2018 underlying net profit after tax was A$171.4 million, excluding A$109.2 million of one off costs. This was 39.1% higher than the 2017 underlying result. The latest underlying net profit after tax was the highest level in five years, the company noted.
Aggregated revenue grew 8.5 percent from last year to A$4.75 billion. The company delivered a positive operating cash flow of A$259.7 million.
The company also announced that Catherine Livingstone will become the Company's lead independent director. Also, it is expected that one of Jacob's directors will join the Board following the successful completion of the acquisition and his resignation from the Jacobs Board.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX