CVTech Group Inc. dropped to a loss in the fourth quarter as it booked a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $2.9-million.
The company, which builds and maintains electrical transmission lines in Quebec and the eastern United States, said Wednesday that losses were $1.4-million, or two cents per share.
That compared to a profit of $3-million, or four cents per share, in the same period ended Dec. 31, 2010.
Consolidated revenues grew to $71.6-million from $69.7-million.
For the year, CVTech posted a profit of $3.1-million, which was a third of the $9.4-million in earnings reported for fiscal 2010. Revenue was $252.5-million from $259.9-million.
"Given the relatively difficult economic context, results for 2011 were satisfactory," said president and chief executive officer Andre Laramee in a release.
CVTech said its order backlog at the end of the quarter was $279-million, but excluded contracts announced in January that are valued at more than $50-million.
"Our subsidiaries continued to develop their markets and made considerable progress in segments with high growth potential, including renewable energy," Mr. Laramee said of the full-year performance.
"However, the uncertain global economic climate has fostered a wait-and-see attitude in the corporation's markets, which has to some extent slowed the awarding of large contracts."
CVTech is a management company that provides services to the electric power industry for the maintenance of transmission lines and also provides maintenance and construction services to utility and heavy industrial markets.