Leighton Middle East wins contracts worth US$ 163 million

27 April 2011

Al Habtoor Leighton (HLG), the 45%-owned Middle East subsidiary of Australian contractor Leighton Holdings, has won two contracts worth AED 620 million (US$ 169 million) in Abu Dhabi.

The Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operation (ADCO) has selected HLG to construct accommodation and administration complexes at its Qusahwira oilfield. The AED 510 million (US$ 139 million) project, which also involves external works including landscaping and road works, is scheduled for completion by December 2012.

Meanwhile, HLG was awarded an AED 110 million (US$ 30 million) addition to the joint venture project it is undertaking with Murray & Roberts building the new Zayad University in Abu Dhabi. HLG will design and construct chilled water facilities for the university consisting of two plants with water chillers, cooling towers, a water storage tank and pumps.

HLG said work on this new project had already begun and it is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2011.

HLG CEO and managing director Laurie Voyer said the two contact awards continued a good start to the year for the Group. "These two awards give another boost to our work in hand and position us well as we move into 2011," he said.

The news comes after Leighton Holdings said earlier this month that it expected to report a loss of AU$ 427 million (US$ 450.4 million) for the 2010/11 financial year, rather than the net profit of AU$ 480 million (US$ 506.3 million ) that it had previously forecast.

Leighton said one of the reasons for the revision was an impairment in its investment in HLG. Leighton's chief executive, David Stewart said opportunities had been slow to come through in the Middle East.

"We have revised down our estimates of the contribution to be booked from the HLG business for the remainder of the year due to provisioning, including receivables," Mr Stewart said.