Building materials supplier Boral expects better-than-anticipated earnings growth from its Australian business for the full year in the wake of strong construction activity in NSW and Queensland.
But Boral's newly formed North America division has taken a hit of between $US5 million and $US10 million because of two major hurricanes there.
Managing director Mike Kane says the company still expects significant earnings growth this year from Boral North America due to the first full-year contribution from the acquisition of US building products maker Headwaters and the delivery of $US30 million to $US35 million in acquisition benefits.
"So, across the group, we have seen some ups and some downs in the first quarter, which is not unusual," Mr Kane told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting in Sydney on Thursday.
"Weather can be our friend or our enemy in the short term.
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"Looking through these short-term impacts though, the future is extremely bright for Boral."
Mr Kane said that at its full-year results announcement in August it expected full-year earnings in fiscal 2018 from the Boral Australia business to be broadly similar to earnings in fiscal 2017.
However, in the first quarter of the current financial year, Boral has benefited from an unprecedented period of continuous, uninterrupted construction activity in NSW and Queensland thanks to exceptional dry weather.
Consequently, Mr Kane said, NSW and Queensland had delivered financial results well ahead of initial expectations.
This contrasted with the wet weather in the already-depressed Perth market, a much smaller market for Boral.
"We now expect to see high single-digit earnings growth from Boral Australia in FY2018 compared with FY2017, excluding earnings from property sales in both years," Mr Kane said.
Boral shares were 24 cents, or 3.4 per cent, higher at $7.37 at 1028 AEDT.
