Construction partner Leighton says the New Royal Adelaide Hospital Project is “well progressed”.
Union officials had recently claimed the project was up to 10 months late.
In its 2014 half-year report to the stock exchange, Leighton stated the NRAH project was due to be completed in 2016.
The company has a 50 per cent share in the $1.8 billion project consortium.
Leighton reported increased revenue across its group as it benefits from the Federal Government’s focus on new infrastructure.
However, it booked a 20 per cent slide in first-half profit after write-downs and restructuring costs offset the increase in revenue.
In response, Leighton shares were down 75 cents, or more than three per cent, to $21.90 as of 1110 AEST.
The company made a net profit of $291 million for the six months to June 30, down from $366 million a year ago.
That was despite a five per cent lift in revenue to $11.05 billion for the period.
The profit result was affected by $28 million in property write-downs and restructuring costs, while the 2013 result had been skewed by a one-off $107 million gain from the sale of the group’s Telco assets.
But chief executive Marcelino Fernandez Verdes praised the company’s performance during the half, noting that underlying profit and net margins increased while the group maintained its market share.
Leighton’s underlying profit, which excludes one-off items, was $319 million, which was up from $255 million a year ago.
The company reaffirmed its guidance for an underlying profit of between $540 million and $620 million for 2014.
Mr Fernandez Verdes said the group was benefiting from Australian state and federal government’s increasing focus on infrastructure.
“We are already seeing the positive impact of the federal government’s infrastructure initiatives, with our 12-month tender pipeline approximately 33 per cent higher than the equivalent pipeline at the time of the FY13 result, and, looking further ahead, we have under preparation the largest pipeline of $1 billion-plus tenders in Leighton’s history,” he said.
Leighton lifted its interim dividend 12 cents to 57 cents per share, 25 per cent franked.
– with AAP
