Corporates

By Glenn Dyer | More Articles by Glenn Dyer

Perth-based engineering and construction company Clough says it has received $US83.8 million ($A105.45 million) for the sale of its stake in an Indonesian construction firm.

Clough said on Tuesday the sale of its 81.95% stake in PT Petrosea Tbk, an engineering, mining and construction company based in Jakarta, had been completed.

The proceeds received from the buyer, Indonesia’s PT Indika Energy Tbk, were unchanged from the previously advised price of $US83.8 million.

"We are pleased that the transaction has completed and that there were no adjustments to the sale price coming out of Indika’s rigorous due diligence review, which is a credit to the Petrosea management team," Clough chief executive John Smith said in a statement to the ASX.

As part of the transaction, Indika Energy subsidy Tripatra Engineers and Constructors will enter into an agreement with Clough to collaborate on future offshore oil and gas projects in Indonesia.

Clough shares eased 1 cent to 70 cents in slow trading yesterday. 


And shares in Frigrite edged up 1 cent to 10 cents yesterday after it confirmed that its expected EBITDA (before non-recurring items) for the year ending 30 June 2009 would be in the range of $4 – $4.4 million.

The company told the ASX that would be in line with the guidance previously provided to the market.

The said it had  a positive EBITDA (before non-recurring items) every month for the last 6 months and "Directors believe the company will continue to improve its EBITDA in the new financial year."

"In addition, the Company’s cash management performance over the last two months of the financial year continued to improve."

The company also said that its NAC Air Conditioning (“NAC”), division has been awarded an expanded full-service maintenance contract by the owners and managers of one of Victoria’s most iconic landmarks, Melbourne’s Federation Square. It had  a three year contract covering the air conditioning.

"While not expected to result in a material variation of the contribution of NAC to Frigrite’s overall financial performance, the Federation Square contract relates to an iconic landmark and reflects on the quality of NAC’s service.

"The contract runs until 30 June 2012 and covers mechanical services with routine maintenance work to the cooling towers, humidifiers, air handling units, water pumps and essential service reporting. It also covers maintenance of the famous Labyrinth system."

Frigite last week revealed that it was moving ahead again with plans for a recpitalisation, telling the ASX in a statement: 

"On 26 May 2009, Frigrite announced the withdrawal of the Rights Issue and Convertible Note placement it launched on the 13 May 2009, following an announcement by Coles to Frigrite that it had entered into a co-operative arrangement with City Facilities Management (Aus) Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of City Refrigeration Holdings (UK) Ltd for the servicing of refrigeration equipment for Coles stores.

"Frigrite withdrew the capital raising to enable it to assess the impact of Coles’ announcement on its business.

"Following this assessment, Frigrite is pleased to announce that it intends to recommence its capital raising process shortly.

Frigrite is working closely together with Coles on its capital project plans for the upcoming financial year and will provide further updates to the market as orders become firm.

"Frigrite and ANZ have finalised the ongoing ANZ facilities and agreed the repayment and other conditions, including the financial covenants. The facility is due for review in December 2009. With operational improvements made by the new management team, Frigrite has been able to remove the $1,500,000 temporary ANZ overdraft facility on 28 May 2009. This temporary facility was originally put in place 28 September 2007. Frigrite has not utilised the ongoing $1,000,000 overdraft facility over the last month.

"Further operational improvements are expected over the coming six months.

"PPK Group (Frigrite’s major shareholder) has confirmed to Frigrite its support for a capital raising with a similar structure to the capital raising announced in May. PPK has agreed to underwrite $2 million of a rights issue and to secure $8 million through the issue of Convertible Notes (with attaching Options) to PPK and selected professional and sophisticated investors.

"Frigrite intends to release further information in relation to the capital raising shortly, including the total size of the capital raising and the details of the rights issue once finally determined."

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About Glenn Dyer

Glenn Dyer has been a finance journalist and TV producer for more than 40 years. He has worked at Maxwell Newton Publications, Queensland Newspapers, AAP, The Australian Financial Review, The Nine Network and Crikey.

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