Australian-listed WDS posted a 29% increase in group revenues to $285 million and a 51% jump in EBITDA to $45.5 million.

Much of the revenue was made in the second half of the year thanks to increased plant utilisation, contributions from new contracts and contribution from acquisitions.

“With most of the infrastructure bottlenecks in the rail and port system progressively easing, we have seen significant growth of opportunities in the mining sector over the last six months in particular,” managing director Garry Ash said.

Walter Mining is predicting 15-20% growth in the 2009 financial year.

CEO and managing director elect Gareth Mann said part of that growth will be based on increasing the range of coal mining services to new and existing clients. Expanded service offerings will include electrical services, technical services, conveyor and equipment maintenance, and safety/training services under Walter Engineering.

“We have low gearing and a strong ability to fund growth by [capital expenditure] in this area if additional specialist mining machinery is required,” Ash added.

“We also see Queensland as a place where strong growth will take place and quite reasonable growth in the NSW market.”

WDS was trading down 1.75% mid-morning today at $2.25, after closing up 4.57% yesterday.