Orica reaffirms 2011 profit growth
The world's top explosives maker Orica Ltd (ASX:ORI) has confirmed it expects its profit in fiscal 2011 will rise from a year earlier.
Orica chief executive Graeme Liebelt said at the group's annual meeting on Thursday that the company sees no reason to change the outlook for the business that it described at the release of full year results.
"We expect the net profit after tax and before individually material items, adjusted for the demerger of DuluxGroup, to be higher in 2011 than that achieved last year," he said.
In fiscal 2010, net profit before individually material items was up 11 per cent to $619 million.
But Mr Liebelt said this is subject to the rate of global recovery and the extent of adverse foreign exchange movements.
"As you all know, we are still in uncertain economic times, and the recovery in the global economy is still quite patchy.
"However, we are increasingly confident that the recovery is sustainable, and we have seen continued growth in North America and Latin America in the first couple of months of our financial year," he said.
Mr Liebelt also said the demerger has been a great success for both Orica and the Duluxgroup, with the latter now trading well as an independent entity.
"Orica, having seen something of a re-rating by the market, is now clearly focussed on its long term strategy; that is, concentrating on the mining and infrastructure sectors globally," he said.
By 1059 AEDT, shares in Orica climbed 10 cents, or 0.4 per cent, to $25.26.