The company also reported an 11% increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation to $100.1 million and announced a fully franked interim dividend of 19.5c, up 1c on the previous period.

The company attributed a fall in earnings per share during the period of 2c to one-off costs associated with the acquisition of mill liner manufacturer Norcast. Overall earnings per share dipped 4% or 1.2c to 26.2c per share.

Sales revenue for the mining products division was up by 26% compared to the first half of 2011 while its rail division’s sales revenue was up 56% for the same period.

Bradken managing director Brian Hodges said the company’s order intake was at historically high levels.

“We are seeing continuing expansion of mining markets and are currently adding capacity to our foundry operations in Australia, China, Malaysia, Canada and the US to meet the increased demand for cast steel consumable products,” Hodges said.

Excluding one-off adjustments for the Norcast acquisition, Bradken maintained its current guidance of EBITDA growth of 25-30% with net profit after tax growth of 35-40% for 2011-12.

The company said operating cashflow for the first half of 2011-12 at $10.7 million was 70% lower compared to the first half of 2011 while capital expenditure for the first half of 2012 was $57.3 million, up from $27.5 million compared to the previous period.