Displaying items by tag: Boral
Boral downgrades profit forecast for a second time
27 June 2012Australia: Boral, Australia's leading building materials supplier, has downgraded its overall profit forecast for the second time in two months, saying earnings could be as much as US$75.5m lower than it expected in February 2012. The downgrade comes with predictions that the group will announce asset writedowns when it delivers its full-year result in August 2012.
It is now expected that Boral will post a net profit before significant items for the current financial year in the range of US$100-110m. The company has continued to blame the profit downgrades on bad weather and weak conditions in the property and construction market and said that an early maintenance shutdown at Waurn Ponds Cement Works in Victoria was also weighing on earnings.
Boral removes CEO Mark Selway
22 May 2012Australia: The board of Australian building products firm Boral Ltd has removed the company's chief executive Mark Selway saying that a new leader was needed who could 'harmonise' the company after a two-year restructuring process.
Selway, who has headed Boral since January 2010, oversaw a turnaround involving the sale of about US$986m in assets and cutting capacity in manufacturing plants as the company battled weak housing and construction markets both in Australia and the United States. In April 2012 Boral posted net profit below its own forecast and made an unexpected cut in full-year profit guidance because of heavy rain and wet weather across eastern Australia.
"The board has decided that the stewardship of the company going forward requires a chief executive with a leadership style suited to harmonising the changes that have occurred over the last two years throughout the company," Boral said in a statement. The board said Selway would step down from his role effective immediately, although he would remain employed until 31 July 2012 to help with the transition.
Australian-born Selway, aged 52, started his career in the automotive sector before becoming the international marketing director of Britax International plc at the age of 28. After working for the company in different postings around the world he later joined the board. In 2001, Selway was appointed chief executive of Weir Group plc, a Scottish based engineering equipment company for the oil, gas, mining and power and industrial sectors.