Monadelphous 1st Half Net Profit Up 26.3% To A$57.5 Million

Engineering group Monadelphous Group Ltd. (MND.AU) Tuesday reported a 26.3% rise in first-half net profit, and said a tight market for skilled labor will remain as several multibillion dollar resources projects start construction in Australia.

Monadelphous said its net profit for the six months to Dec. 31 rose to a record A$57.5 million from A$45.5 million, and it declared a 25% higher interim dividend of A$0.50 per share.

"With a historically high level of large-scale resources and energy projects currently in the execution phase throughout Australia and a healthy pipeline of projects in planning stages--particularly for iron ore, coal and LNG developments--Monadelphous expects the strong revenue momentum achieved in the first half will continue for the remainder of the financial year," the company said in a statement.

Monadelphous, which recently secured a contract worth around A$290 million from BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) for construction at its Port Hedland inner harbor project in Western Australia state, said it expects full-year revenue growth to be similar to the 25.6% growth achieved in the first half.

-By David Winning, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]

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