Nomad said the profit figure does not include a $6.9 million goodwill impairment, which arose from the purchase of its Rapley Wilkinson construction business in March 2008. Allowing for the impairment, the profit result was $1.3 million. The company said its Rapley business was affected by the deferral of a number of projects that were expected to commence late in 2008. However, Nomad said that since the beginning of this year Rapley Wilkinson has seen an increase in tendering activity. Other positive signs flagged by Nomad included an increase in tender requests from the mining industry, for projects set to start in 2010, including the Gorgon gas project and Olympic Dam. But there were also problems with the installation works of Nomad’s Modular Building division in WA, which the company said had a significant impact on the group’s overall result. Nomad said these problems were experienced across a number of contracts including a significant loss on one turnkey project nearing completion. Nonetheless, Nomad is expecting to benefit from the Western Australian state government’s Royalties for Regions initiative and the $42 billion stimulus package recently announced by the federal government.
