Rail freight company Aurizon Holdings said it would take about $321 million of one-off charges, including impairments and significant items, when it reports its half-yearly earnings.
Aurizon said in a statement on Tuesday that it expected to report underlying pre-tax earnings between $900 million and $950 million for the six months to December 31, but that it was taking the one-off costs as a result of an ongoing review of operations.
"A key focus is getting the company's core business right and continuing momentum with the transformation program," chief executive Andrew Harding said.
"We will take a very disciplined approach to managing costs and capital to ensure we drive shareholder value."
The company said it would recognise asset impairments of $162 million on its bulk commodities freight business because of rising costs even as freight volumes rose 10 per cent in the six month period, compared to the same period a year earlier.
It said it was taking another $64 million impairment charge for an investment in a technology-led freight management planning system, which the company was terminating because of the risk of cost overruns and delays.
The company was taking another $85 million one-off hit for a previously announced redundancy program. The company said it laid off 494 employees in the first half of fiscal 2017.
It was taking another $10 million charge as it shut down some assets due to cancelled contracts.
Aurizon reports half-yearly results on February 13.
Aurizon issued the statement before the start of sharemarket trading on Tuesday. Its shares were trading 2¢ higher at $4.93 at 11.30am.
Reuters