James Hardie Industries NV (JHX) said expenses related to ASIC, income tax and asbestos might have a material impact on the company’s consolidated financial statements. The company reported operating results had been significantly affected by further declines in the USA Fibre Cement business, where sales declined compared to sales in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, for the seventh consecutive quarter.

In a report released today, James Hardie said full year net operating profit excluding asbestos, ASIC expenses, asset impairments and tax adjustments decreased 44%.

Including the above mentioned expenses net operating profit increased from a loss of US$71.6 million to a profit of US$136.3 million.

The company reported net sales decreased by 18% for the full year and gross profit had decreased by 27% in the same period.

James Hardie said its results continue to be significantly affected by the on-going deterioration of its major market, the US residential construction market, where housing starts for March 2009 reached a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 510,000 units, down 77% from the January 2006 peak of over two million starts.

CEO Louis Gries said the company was continuing to pursue its strategy of generating primary demand growth for fibre cement and leveraging its technology to offer differentiated products with superior value.

“Our ColorPlus range of products, which accounts for an increasing share of our exterior sales, is a good example of the ongoing success of this strategy,” Mr Gries said.

“We are adjusting and managing our production schedules in an on-going effort to match output with demand to optimise our inventory and service position in the downturn.”

Following on from the company’s decision in November last year to omit the interim dividend for the current fiscal year, it has decided to omit the year-end dividend to conserve capital and anticipates to continue to omit dividends for the same reason.

At 1020 AEST, James Hardie shares were down 15c to $4.24.