Boral lowers expectations, Australia

Boral has announced that it expects net profits for the year ending June 2012, to be in the region of AUD100m-110m, assuming that two property disposals are still completed this month, as anticipated. 

This compares with a previous guidance of AUD128m to AUD153m, made in April. While the performance in Asia and in the USA have been largely in line with expectations, the Australian performance in the final quarter is proving to be well short of expectations. 

The reasons cited by the company are adverse weather conditions during June, weaker property sales, further delays in road projects and a major resources project was well as an earlier than previously planned maintenance shut down at the Waurn Ponds cement works. 

The announcement comes on top of the previously announced weakness in the Australian housebuilding market, which showed a 25 per cent drop in quarterly housing starts when announced last week.