The Toll Group has released its financial results for the six months ended 31 December 2013. Revenue was in line with last year at $4.5 billion, while net profit after tax* increased 1.4 per cent to $176 million.
Speaking at Wednesday’s announcement, Toll Group’s Managing, Director Brian Kruger, said the company had continued to invest in its core network businesses despite on-going economic and market driven challenges in both domestic and international markets, particularly in the resources sector.
“This result has been well supported by progress in improving productivity and reducing costs. While we have continued to do well retaining key customers and winning new contracts, the competitive environment has maintained pressure on margins. We remain disciplined in the returns we require when bidding for new work and this has limited revenue growth in some markets,” Kruger said.
“We remain committed to ensuring we build on our position as Australia’s leading transport and logistics provider through continuing our targeted capital expenditure and investing through the economic cycle to position ourselves for future recovery in market conditions,” he added.
“Being able to invest in fleet, facilities and systems to meet our customer needs both in Australia and in our developing international business is a key differentiator, along with our focus on safety, with the last six months seeing further improvements in our performance in this critical area. This capital spending is well supported by our One Toll program, which continues to provide increasing benefits across the Group,” Mr Kruger said at the announcement.
Looking ahead, Kruger said he was not assuming any near-term improvements in the external economic environment, so Toll will continue to focus on improving returns through winning new business, increasing productivity and looking for further opportunities to improve efficiency and management of operating costs.
“Overall, assuming no material change in the external environment we continue to expect underlying earnings before interest and tax for the 2014 financial year to be ahead of the prior year.”
Overall, the Group generated operating cash flow of $308 million, and invested $205 million in capital expenditure, with depot related investments and fleet upgrades the key areas of investment.
* before non-recurring items