SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian engineering contractor CIMIC Group Ltd <CIM.AX> said full year net profit rose 21 percent, slightly above its guidance, as it benefitted from several large-scale infrastructure projects.
Net profit was A$702.1 million ($554.80 million) for the year ended Dec. 31, 2017, from A$580.3 million a year ago, the company said on Wednesday. The company had earlier announced a guidance range of a net profit between A$640 million and A$700 million for the year.
CIMIC added that it expects net profit after tax to be in the range of A$720 million to A$780 million for 2018 as result of continued contracts in the pipeline.
More than two-thirds of CIMIC's revenue is from Australia and the company said there are at least A$110 billion of tenders to be bid or awarded for work in 2018.
CIMIC itself is 73 percent owned by Germany's HOCHTIEF AG, which is in turn owned by Spanish engineering giant ACS Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA <ACS.MC>.
CIMIC said full year revenue grew 24 percent to A$13.4 billion.
The contractor secured several large project wins in 2017, including a A$390 million construction project in Hong Kong and a tunnel in the Australian city of Melbourne which the contractor said would generate revenue of about A$2.49 billion.
CIMIC declared a final dividend of 75 Australian cents per share.
(Reporting by Chandini Monnappa; Editing by Byron Kaye)
