Construction and real estate management company Lendlease has posted a $1.5 billion loss after costly writeoff as it tries to reset its strategy and operations.
The group announced on Monday it was booking $1.38 billion in impairments, including $805 million in goodwill related to its acquisition of Bovis Construction in the UK 25 years ago.
Lower property values also cost Lendlease a paper loss of $260 million - including a $57 million loss from a revaluation of its under-construction Victoria Cross development atop a metro station in North Sydney.
Excluding those items, Lendlease said it made $263 million in core operating profit in 2023/24, up two per cent from a year ago.
“Our results for FY24 reflected challenging business conditions and the early actions from our refreshed strategy," said chief executive Tony Lombardo.
"We have made significant progress towards our target of recycling $2.8 billion of capital in FY25, with further cost savings realised as a result of our simplified management structure."
Lendlease has been retreating from its overseas operations to focus on its Australian businesses.
But it hasn't been all smooth sailing domestically, with supplier insolvencies requiring Lendlease to re-tender for $50 million worth of goods and services in 2023/24 in its construction division.
Lendlease declared a final distribution per security of 9.5 cents, taking the total for the year to 16 cents, up from 11.6c in 2022/23.
Early Monday afternoon, Lendlease shares were up 0.1 per cent to $6.355.
