Aveng reports R3.8bn rise in McConnell Dowell’s order book

JSE-listed infrastructure group Aveng reported on Friday that its Australian subsidiary McConnell Dowell had secured recent contracts worth a combined R3.8-billion, boosting the business’ overall order book to R8.7-billion.

The new orders have been secured across a range of infrastructure and resources projects in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand and have boosted McConnell Dowell’s backlog by 17% relative to the position reported by Aveng at the end of June.

Following a strategy review, Aveng announced that McConnell Dowell and Moolmans remained core businesses, but that it would be selling several other enterprises, including Grinaker-LTA and Trident Steel. It plans to complete the disposal process by June 2019.

The restructuring process arose amid serious financial distress at the company, which recently finalised a R493-million rights issue and completed an early redemption of a R2-billion convertible bond in a bid to alleviate pressure on its future sustainability.

Expanding McConnell Dowell’s order book has been set as a priority for the ongoing turnaround of Aveng and the South African company told shareholders on Friday that its Australian unit was well positioned to secure additional work in the near term.