Great Lakes Dredge & Dock CEO pleased with recent performance
Company News - February 26, 2010
Douglas B Mackie, President and Chief Executive Officer of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, says he is "very pleased" with the company's performance during 2009 "as we reached record revenues and earnings."
"During the third quarter, we repositioned two of our large hydraulic dredges to the US to be better positioned to take advantage of the active domestic bid market. Our ability to expeditiously re-position key dredges has served us well as we capitalize on attractive market opportunities," he explained.
"The year included several very complex Louisiana coastal and wetland restoration projects. These were some of the many projects which required our equipment to operate in unprotected waters exposing our operations to the risk of delays due to storms and hurricanes."
"During the first quarter weather worked very much in our favour, however, during the fourth quarter, we experienced a significant reversal of that phenomenon. Given these risks, it is often difficult to predict financial performance, particularly in the short-term, with any degree of certainty. We do think bid market trends and government funding initiatives tend to be better indicators of long term performance, particularly in light of the success we continue to enjoy in winning domestic contract awards."
"With regard to government funding, we believe that the majority of the work that is being funded by the stimulus program mehas been awarded to date, although a significant amount remains to be completed by the industry in 2010. While there is some uncertainty with regard to the timing and approval of other funding initiatives given the many legislative priorities before Congress, we are encouraged that the 2011 federal budget discussion has begun."
"Our experience has shown that the Corps of Engineers can fund and bid work more efficiently and predictably when operating under an approved budget as opposed to continuing resolutions. Approval of the 2011 budget, success of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund initiative and continuing economic pressure to deepen our East and Gulf Coast ports, should lead to a continuation of the healthy US dredging market," said Mr Mackie.
"As global economic conditions improve, there are also positive indicators in both the foreign dredging market and our demolition business. With the strengthening of the price of oil we are seeing a resurgence of potential opportunities, particularly in the Middle East. Further, the renewed focus on domestic infrastructure and our success in entering new markets has enabled our demolition business to add over Us$30 million of backlog in January."
"We are convinced that the fundamentals are in place for continued, strong, long term growth in the domestic dredging market," Mr Mackie concluded. "Nevertheless, we are cognizant that the timing of funding approvals do influence our shorter term performance. That coupled with the uncertainty of when the international market and the demolition business will achieve sustained momentum and at what levels leads us to adopt a conservative outlook at this early point in the year."
