"During 1Q22, the oil and gas market in Canada has been returning to increased levels of investment, and the industry outlooks are positive. There has also been a notable improvement to our results in Saudi Arabia, where investments in construction projects are expected to return to pre-pandemic levels.
"Our current backlog of US$59.2 million is 50% higher than our 31 January 2022 backlog. After a significant number of new awards during the quarter, including in Saudi Arabia and the US, our backlog is at approximately the same level as it was this time last year, and it is distributed very similarly between our different business units.
"The net income from our results does not reflect the same period improvement as is described above, since there is inconsistency in the rates of taxation in the different countries where we operate, and also because we are not recognising the full tax benefit of past losses. This makes the calculation of effective tax rates extremely inconsistent from period to period, and this is highlighted in the tax charge for this quarter,” concluded Mr. Mansfield.
