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AEG - Aveng Limited - Trading Statement AVENG LIMITED (Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa) (Registration number: 1944/018119/06) ISIN: ZAE000111829 SHARE CODE: AEG ("Aveng" or "the Company") TRADING STATEMENT Shareholders are advised that the Aveng Group ("the Group or the Company) anticipates that its earnings per share and headline earnings per share for the interim period to December 2011 will be lower than that of the comparative period ended 31 December 2010 by between 30% and 35%. (December 2010: Earnings 107.0 cents: Headline Earnings 106.9) The reduction in earnings is primarily due to highly competitive construction and engineering markets, compounded by unresolved claims and some execution difficulties on a number of large projects. Despite a modest improvement in revenue, the South African construction and engineering business returned an operating loss for the six month period to December 2011. This deterioration was primarily as a result of underperforming contracts and project risk provisions. Unresolved claims on the sub-contracted steel fabrication projects for the Medupi and Kusile power plants continue to adversely impact the profitability and liquidity of this division. Construction and Engineering: Australia showed good revenue growth, with strong topline performance from its offshore construction, pipeline and electrical businesses. Although margins were negatively affected by the impact of additional loss provisions on the Adelaide desalination and QCLNG pipeline projects, this operating group has shown an improvement in profitability. Positive progress has been made on the previously reported Komo airport construction project. The performance of the Aveng Manufacturing and Processing businesses, which includes Aveng Trident Steel, improved significantly despite a soft domestic infrastructure market and steel supply and labour disruptions. Excluding the impact of the competition commission administrative penalty accounted for in the comparative period, this division showed a marked improvement in profitability. In the Opencast Mining business, the turnaround of underperforming contracts, improved efficiencies and plant utilisation, contributed to a good overall performance. Despite the difficult market, particularly in South Africa, the Group`s two year order book increased by 24% from R37 billion at 30 June 2011 to R46 billion at 31 December 2011, driven primarily by the demand from the mining and energy sectors in Australia. The Australia and Pacific construction order book increased by 62% to R30.6 billion. This statement has not been reviewed or reported on by the company`s auditors. The interim results for the year to 31 December 2011 are expected to be released on Wednesday, 14 March 2012. By order of the board Rivonia 23 February 2012 Sponsor: J.P. Morgan Equities Limited Date: 23/02/2012 07:05:02 Supplied by www.sharenet.co.za Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited (`JSE`). The JSE does not, whether expressly, tacitly or implicitly, represent, warrant or in any way guarantee the truth, accuracy or completeness of the information published on SENS. The JSE, their officers, employees and agents accept no liability for (or in respect of) any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential loss or damage of any kind or nature, howsoever arising, from the use of SENS or the use of, or reliance on, information disseminated through SENS.
