North Otago roading and landscaping contractor, Whitestone Contracting Ltd, is on track for a good return to its sole shareholder, the Waitaki District Council, after the first six months of the financial year.
It has reported a half-yearly net surplus after tax of $265,905.
That compares with a $176,723 net surplus in the first six months of the previous financial year and a $26,765 loss for the same six-month period in the 2006-07 financial year.
Company chairman John Walker said the first six months had been a success, with a significant turnaround in profit from the previous half year.
With careful monitoring of costs during the current economic downturn, combined with a good forward workload for the next six months, he expected a positive result for the complete year.
Highlights for the first six months included an improvement in the profit, increase in turnover, holding overhead costs to an acceptable level after last year's reductions and a reducing fuel price.
Whitestone was hit hard last financial year by fuel prices that hovered around $1.60 a litre for diesel. At present, it was about half that.
Mr Walker said the company was proceeding to hold its costs and, while the workload for the next six months was good, "after that we are not so sure what will happen".
"There is uncertainty in the economy and we expect to see some signs of this in the next six months and beyond," he said.
To offset that, the company continued to focus on reducing overheads and improving contract performance to ensure it had a competitive edge.
Operating revenue for the six months to the end of December was $10.55 million, compared with $9.29 million in the same period of 2007-08.
