Okay. Welcome, everyone, to the Boom Logistics FY25 Result. My name's Luke Maffei, and I'm from Automic Markets. Today, Manager will run through the FY25 result, and then we will take some Q&A at the end. Participants could submit their questions via the online platform, and I'll read them out. I'm pleased to introduce the current Boom executive team, who have been in place for around three years and have presided over a major turnaround in the company's fortunes. Presenting today is CEO Ben Pieyre, Director of Operations Lester Fernandez, and CFO Manny Bikakis. I'll now hand over to Ben.
Thanks, Luke. Good morning. I'd like to begin by thanking everyone who has joined us online for today's FY25 Rresults presentation. I also want to acknowledge and thank our board and the entire Boom team for their continued support and commitment. We will start on slide three. As many of you know, Boom leads the way of complex lifting and project logistics solutions across the nation. We have our operations strategically positioned in key resources and logistical hubs, giving us access to supply our specialized equipment, engineering services, and workforce solutions to diversify a range of project and industrial mining services. Boom does not participate in the retail, commercial, and residential construction markets in major capital cities, rather focusing on industrial and mining sectors in the regions. We play a key role in supporting Australia's critical infrastructure expansion, renewable energy transition, and resource projects in the commodity sector.
Our national presence and scalable fleet of equipment, including cranes and travel towers, supported by a highly skilled workforce, allows us to manage large on-site project maintenance and engineering services. Turning to slide four, you can see that Boom's strategy runs across four pillars: creating shareholder value through capital management and returns, ESG, people capability and efficacy driven by a strong safety-first culture, a leading provider in key growth area focused on renewables, resources, infrastructure, and industrial sectors. Lastly, driving assets regeneration through modernizing our fleet and focusing on utilization. Whilst our strategy is focused on creating value for our shareholders, everything begins with understanding of our customers' needs and delivering exceptional service to meet them. This is central to everything we do.
As you can see on the next slide, on slide five, our strategy is designed to capitalize on shifting market dynamics, with several micro-cranes sent to drive our growth. Decarbonization will create strong demand for complex infrastructure in remote regions. From wind farms to battery installations and transmission lines, we are delivering the specialized lifting and logistics capabilities that make large-scale renewable projects possible. Our fleet, workforce, and regional expertise is placing us to win long-term contracts and positioning us at the forefront of Australia's energy transition. We are expanding our fleet and upskilling our people to service the next generation of wind turbine projects, partnering with OEMs and contractors as a preferred service provider. Investment in energy, mining infrastructure, and services remains strong.
We are scaling our site-based crane operations across major mining, energy, and processing hubs, securing long-term contracts, delivering shutdown services, and supporting brownstone expansions such as copper mining. Turning to slide six, whilst our revenue was slightly up, we had strong growth in figures that represent shareholder value creation, including earnings per share, operational impact, and share buybacks, whilst boosting the company's cash flow. We delivered the AUD 2 million of share buyback and have announced a further AUD 4 million in buybacks with our AUD 800,000 in dividends for FY26 as a result of our FY25 performance. On slide seven, you can see in more detail the strong growth in EPS and NPAT, along with several other key metrics. Our ongoing growth in our key sectors and cost control management helped to deliver a 41% increase in operating NPAT, with earnings per share up 38% to 22 cents.
We aim to further improve shareholder value by continuing to execute on our strategy, maintain operational excellence, and further improve the business. Before we continue, I'd like to introduce Lester Fernandez, who will be taking us through the operational performance sitting on my right. Lester is Boom's Director of Operations, leading our national performance across our crane, travel tower, and labor hire service. He brings over 15 years of operational and senior leadership experience in the crane industry, with a proven ability to deliver strong operational results and drive P&L performance. Under his leadership, over the last three years, Boom has restructured underperforming operations, improved asset utilization, and expanded margins through disciplined implementation. Lester has also played a pivotal role in securing and growing major national accounts with clients such as BHP, Aseana, and NUMO.
Lester's deep industry expertise and commercial discipline have been central to Boom's current operational and financial performance. Having worked with you for the major part of the last 15 years, it's great to have you with us today.
Thank you, Ben. It's great to be here. This is my first investor presentation, and I'm genuinely excited. I've been with Boom now for almost three years, and the crane industry for 15. Over that time, I've worked my way up through operational and leadership roles, which has given me a strong grounding on how this industry works. None of this happens without our people, and I'm proud to lead a team of dedicated professionals across the country who make these results possible. Across my career, I've been fortunate enough to be involved in some of the country's largest projects, from the Pilbara through to Central Queensland and through South Australia at Olympic Dam. Those experiences have reinforced the scale of Boom's operations and the results that our team delivers every day. Today, I'll be taking you through Boom's operational performance for FY25.
On slide nine, we've executed strongly against our operational plan, and the results speak for themselves. We've lifted operational NPAT by 41% and maintained labor efficiency at 86%, all while keeping utilization steady and consistently high levels. The way we've achieved this was through disciplined execution, matching the right assets with the right jobs, keeping our fleet productive, and managing our labor hours quite tightly. It's activity that converts directly into shareholder returns. We've shown we can deliver consistent performances across different market conditions, and that gives us real confidence in our ability to continue to deliver going forward. Onto slide 10. One of Boom's key strengths is the breadth of our operations. Around half of our revenue comes from resources, close to 30% from renewables, and the remainder from industrial and infrastructure projects. That spread gives us balance across markets and resilience through cycles.
Within resources, our contract portfolio is anchored in iron ore and gold, while copper is also playing an important part. This mix provides both scale and stability across the portfolio. Diversification is critical. We're not just dependent on a single client or a sector. It means we can relocate our people and our fleet quickly to meet demand where it's growing fastest. That's exactly what we've done across some of Australia's largest projects, like Jimblebar in the Pilbara or the AUD 2.8 billion Alkimos D esalination Plant in West Australia. We also contribute to the Energy Connect Project in New South Wales, which New South Wales government has put in AUD 4.1 billion into. Three very different environments, and in each case, we continue to deliver on schedule and profitably. That depth and width of capability gives us real confidence that Boom can continue growing across multiple markets at once.
Onto slide 11. Safety and ESG are not just compliance requirements for us. They are part of how we run the business every day, and they directly support our ability to operate profitably. On safety, we recorded no lost-time injuries in FY25 with a CRIF of 5.7. There is always more work to do, and we will continue to strengthen our critical risk controls. Tragically, we lost a member of our team at Clark Creek in July. That incident remains under investigation, and we are committed to seeing that process through to completion. On ESG, our biggest contribution is what we deliver for our clients: the infrastructure we help build, transmission lines, large-scale energy and water projects. These are not just contracts. They represent Boom's role in helping shape the future of Australia's energy and infrastructure landscape. Safe, sustainable, and profitable operations while helping build Australia's tomorrow. That is the combination we are committed to delivering.
That concludes the operational performance update. I'll now hand over to Manny, our CFO, who will take you through the financial performance that underpinned these results.
Great. Thanks, Lester. Good morning, everyone. It's great to be here. On behalf of the management team, and in fact, the entire Boom family, I'm very proud to present our FY25 results. Starting with our profit and loss. For the past three years, we have focused on the business fundamentals, specifically labor and asset management and bottom-line profitability by business, by customer, by person, and by asset. It's included focusing on core profitable sectors, improved pricing and margin management, disposing of underperforming businesses, depots, and assets, driving high labor recovery and asset utilization, ensuring that all new asset investments are returning double-digit returns. Ultimately, it's all about using our cash and our financing wisely. At AUD 9.3 million net profit after tax, an 8% return on net assets, and an EPS of AUD 0.22, we're up approximately 40% on all those measures over the year.
This is the best financial result this company has produced in the last 15 years. If we add the underlying impact from the buyback program, i.e., we're buying back our shares at roughly AUD 1.50, whilst the NTA is around AUD 2.78, there's a notional benefit of about AUD 1.38 per share, or nearly AUD 1.8-2 million. That's the equivalent of 1.5% RONA. I think it's fair to argue if we add this notional benefit to the reported 8% RONA that we've reported, it brings our total returns to 9.5%, so almost double-digit. Everyone at Boom has worked very hard over the last three years to achieve these results and achieve the turnaround that we've achieved. Given the size, experience, risk profile, and the level of investment, we are very confident of further continuous improvement.
As I just shared, we're getting close to making our double-digit returns in the short term, and our goal is to increase this to 15% in the medium term. Turning to the next slide, I'd like to talk about our balance sheet strength. Our net assets continue to improve in underlying value at AUD 180 million. That's up AUD 7 million from last year. Our net tangible asset, or our NTA, per share is AUD 2.87, up from AUD 2.65 previous year. That's up 22 cents. The value-average age of our fleet is well placed at six, ensuring we have a modern and efficient fleet. Our debt financing facilities of AUD 150 million are up AUD 10 million from last year, all at lower rates and with tier one banks. We believe this has created a competitive advantage for this company.
It's also created a lot of flexibility and ensures that we are in control of our own destiny. Our debt levels at the 30th of June peaked at AUD 98 million. Now, 100% of our borrowings are financed and operating leases, typically three to five years in length. We've drawn down 65% of our debt facilities, with our gearing levels remaining stable at 42.5%, well within the 35-45% preferred range, giving us plenty of headroom. We have no short-term working capital debt, and we have no long-term borrowings. In regard to the asset regeneration program that we've all talked about, our new CapEx and operating leases for the year are aligned with the asset strategy, supported by regular divestment of underutilized assets. Our gross CapEx for the year was AUD 35 million, offset by AUD 10 million in disposals, thus giving us a net CapEx number of AUD 25 million.
That's AUD 10 million below last year. Our asset investment, in fact, will further ease in FY26 as we move into a steady-state mode, which will free up additional cash and lower our debt. The last slide I've got is on cash and debt, or net debt if you wish to combine them together. Our operations generated AUD 43 million of cash after interest costs, driven by the quality of our revenue, pricing, and margin improvements we've made, and the high utilization of our people and our assets. Our working capital increased slightly, which was purely a timing effect due to some customers paying us on the 1st of July. Over the year, our underlying working capital has reduced substantially versus last year, driven by tighter customer terms. Remember, we have no working capital borrowings and no debt factoring facility.
If we look at our gross debt, it increased by AUD 56 million in the year, primarily due to financing last year's CapEx and operating leases. In summary, if you take the cash generated by our operations, offset the gross debt movement, the result is a AUD 17 million movement in our net debt. We also spent AUD 2 million on our share buyback, which was 50% up on the previous year. Thus, our net debt rose by AUD 19 million overall to AUD 98 million you see on the screen there. As stated earlier, this is a peak debt position given the asset regeneration program we have all been undertaking over the last three years. Given we are now in a steady-state mode and our asset requirements, this debt level will now start to reduce and will be below the 40% gearing level very soon.
If I could also point out the AUD 14 million in cash in our bank account at 30th of June, it's increased AUD 10 million operationally for the year, less the AUD 2 million utilized for the share buyback. It's an AUD 8 million increase in our cash in bank. That's a great position to be in, and it's the highest level we've been at for many, many years. As you may have seen from our ASX announcement this morning, we're also pleased to announce a AUD 0.02 unfranked dividend per share payable on the 30th of September. This is incremental to the AUD 4 million in share buybacks we'll be undertaking in FY26. We appreciate certain shareholders have diverse capital views, but we are trying to respect and listen to all our shareholders. With that, I'll pass back to you, Ben, and give us an update on the outlook and our projects for FY26.
Thanks, Manny. For positive outlook and a good presentation. Luke, as outlined on slide 17, our focus to maintain our sustainable growth for the year ahead is quite clear. We'll continue to grow EPS by delivering on new and renewed contracts, as well as converting strong tender activity into wins. Strategic margin growth remains a priority, supported by disciplined operation and smart asset investment. We are introducing a dividend and continuing our share buyback program to return value to shareholders. Safety, sustainability, talent, and governance remain at the heart of everything we do. We are targeting labor efficiency above 85%, supported by our skilled workforce and trusted contractors, whilst finishing our tech upgrade to boost productivity. We'll grow profitable customers in all core sectors, with a particular focus on renewables and transmission lines.
We'll invest in profitable markets where Boom is underrepresented, strengthen our competitive edge through targeted replacement assets, and invest in growth assets where return meets our benchmark. Finally, we'll continue to optimize fleet performance, divesting underutilized equipment and maintaining utilization above 85%, ensuring Boom remains the training logistic partner of choice in key sectors. As you can see on the next slide, slide 18, we are looking to achieve double-digit return on net asset by continuing the business turnaround and restructuring efforts, investing in growth assets in key markets such as renewables, delivering on pricing, efficiency, and cost management initiatives. We are well positioned to continue to drive our performance to lead us to a 15% return on net asset. Moving to the following slide, 19.
Once we recognize the improvement achieved in the last three years, we are focused on keeping our key principles leading the progression towards even better returns. Here's why we believe Boom is a strong investment opportunity. We are well placed to capitalize on the long-term demand and investment in construction, renewables, and mining. We have strong margin growth potential due to cost control management and improving our fleet and its use. We have diversified market exposure, which provides a stable business model during harder economic times. The team has deep industry knowledge and connections across Australia to maintain and create more contract opportunities, making Boom a rare and valuable opportunity. To close on slide 20, I want to highlight the key initiatives we are executing to enhance shareholder value.
Boom is focused on strengthening our position in high-growth markets, building strategic partnerships, maintaining a flexible funding platform, and driving disciplined capital management, all designed to create long-term value for our shareholders. To conclude, I'd like to thank my colleagues sitting next to me today and the entire Boom team, whose dedication and talent delivered a stronger performance in FY25 and will certainly drive further growth. Thanks. Luke, back to you.
Thanks, Ben. That was a fantastic, very comprehensive overview of the result by yourself, Manny and Lester. We've got some questions that have come through, and I'll just read those out as they've come in. The first question there has come through on capital management, and in particular, how the buyback and the dividend will sort of work together and how that will play out and what your thinking is behind that.
Yeah, I'll take that one, Ben. This is consistent with our capital management strategy. The thinking is, in the absence of any franking credits, we consider the buyback program to be the most efficient allocation of our capital and optimally provide better returns back to our shareholders. We've introduced the dividend for the first time this year after getting a lot of feedback from our shareholders, and we understand shareholders have different needs and different requirements. The dividend has been introduced, will be paid in September. We're fortunate to be in a very positive position, both from a profitability point of view, but also from a cash point of view. We've got the freedom to use that cash and return that back to shareholders. At AUD 4 million buyback this year, that's the biggest buyback program that we've undertaken.
Thanks, Manny. I've got another question here regarding the buyback. Why hasn't the buyback, why haven't you bought more shares since earlier this year?
Okay, I will take that one as well. Our capital management strategy is to return 40-60% back to shareholders, whether in the form of a buyback or dividends and so forth. We did that last year. We actually were in the upper end of the last two years' profits, I should say that. It is an average of the last two years' profits. We did that last year at AUD 2 million. We will also be in the 60% range in FY26, where we will buy back AUD 4 million of buybacks plus the AUD 800,000 in dividends. We will always remain open and flexible given the circumstances, our position, and the market dynamics, and we will continue to evaluate that on a regular basis.
Thanks, Manny. Another question here on steady-state asset regeneration. What does that look like over the next two years, and how long will it take to get the 35% gearing?
I'll probably start on the steady-state. I think we have a life cycle average of an asset of 15 years. There is a need every year to refurbish assets and get more relevant assets into the market to meet our clients' needs and the market needs. I think the steady-state for us really is around the depreciation schedule and taking the life cycle of an asset being 15 years. We will have a steady-state around what are we doing, what are we planning to do this year. That's how we're going to roll. Sorry, the second part of the question was about when will it get to.
Gearing.
Yeah, for the gearing up. Luke, gearing, it's a long, Manny?
We will be below 40% very, very soon. I do not want to give sort of specifics, but yeah, we are very confident that we will be within the 35-40% mark for the year. As you said, Ben, we will continue to invest, we will continue to divest assets, right? The last three years have been playing catch-up, and we now believe we have got an efficient, modern fleet, exactly where we want it. If you look at our assets, they last about 15 years, guys. It is really one-fifteenth of our assets should be replenished every year. That is probably a good guide.
Okay. Thanks, guys. We've got a question here around the current competitive landscape in Boom's markets.
Luke, yeah, look, the market, thanks for this question. I guess we're still in the same phase with the same market, which is quite fragmented across Australia and localized. Luke, for us, part of the restructure in the last three years was to strengthen and enter growth markets. We have exited non-profitable markets, non-profitable regions, reinvesting our fleet and our energy into more profitable markets. We are still in an area where there are a lot of businesses, but there are not many that can do what we can. There is only a handful, four or five businesses that cover Australia nationally. We are well positioned in all logistical hubs, mining hubs. We are where the future of the Australia economy platform is going to be, and that is around the mining, the resources, the renewables, and the large infrastructure projects.
We are very, very comfortable with where we are and are very confident that we are taking the right step to further grow this business.
Thanks, Ben. One more question, another question here on, are you seeing any increased opportunities in maintenance and other recurring revenue within renewables?
Yeah, Luke, very good question, and it's certainly how we've placed ourselves. By entering the construction market, we are creating the capacity and the capabilities in our business to have the equipment and the talent to be able to maintain the renewables. That may be wind farms or solar farms, the Snowy Hydro. We're heavily involved in the Snowy Hydro now on construction, which will lead us to opportunities in maintenance. Just like mining, when we enter into mining, we go into construction, we know the plant, we know what equipment is required, what the sequences are, and that places us really well for the future. If you look at our business, 50% of what we do, of the business currently, is mining contracts. The aim now, by entering that large space of construction in the renewables, is to place ourselves into that maintenance cycle that will happen.
Like I said, we are positioning really well, and we are building the capacity and the capabilities to do so.
Thanks, Ben. Another one here. How does the tender pipeline compare to recent years across each sector?
The tender pipeline is strong as much as you can hear some negative news, if you like. If you look at mining and infrastructure investment, there is AUD 150 billion committed over the next three years. Renewable energy through the transmission lines, Snowy Hydro is committed, obviously, and some of the wind farms that will start next year and further on the following years. We are seeing a high level of activity. The Olympics in Brisbane and Queensland will also lead a lot of the tendering activities. We are very comfortable. The expansion at BHP with the copper, where we have a long-term maintenance contract, will also create good opportunities for us to tender on. We are very comfortable in the areas where we invested and strengthened our position in the last few years.
We are seeing a bit more activity, and we're certainly talking long-term with some of the manufacturers and governments.
A question here on the tax benefit. Just to have some more color on that and how that flows onto the balance sheet.
Yes, I'll take that one. We loaded AUD 14 million. We recognized, I should say, AUD 14 million of future tax benefits in the first half of the year. We've also got roughly the same amount of unrecognized tax benefits off balance sheet as well. The tax benefits come from the, obviously, historic position, and really, it'll be many years before this company actually pays tax. So we'll be able to use up those tax losses over the coming three to five, seven years.
It's also showing the confidence from the board and the team on the future of this business and the profitability as well.
Yeah, by recognizing it on the balance sheet. Yeah.
Another question here. Will your fleet expand to other plant needed by clients?
Luke, for the right returns, we will supply what is required. Sorry, that's a little bit cheeky, but effectively, this is how we operate. We are very flexible. We nibble on what we do, and we will go and invest where the returns are and the better returns are. What we've been doing so far is exiting market, selling assets to then invest into new assets to enter more profitable market and sectors. The answer is yes. The answer is where the opportunity will be for us to get the returns and for us to get closer to that double-digit return and the 15% aspiration that we have, we will do so.
Thanks, Ben. Another question here on guidance, the outlook for FY26. The company did not provide any specific guidance. Can you elaborate on that?
Do you want me to take that? Yeah. We put out some information, obviously, that we've shared today, the 2% dividend, the AUD 4 million capital buyback program. We're comfortable where we're at. It's a little bit too early to put out guidance. Not many companies put out guidance at this point in time. We'll review that position over the coming months, and I'm sure the board will be sharing more as time moves on.
Okay. Another question here on the recent change, a question on labor costs across Australia and the outlook over the next two to five years.
Yes, thank you. Luke, obviously, it's a very topical discussion amongst ourselves and our client. What we've done in the last few years by renegotiating our contract, we've put ourselves in a position where we are managing our industrial relations really well, and we are able, through the structure of our contracts, to pass on some of these increases. We are comfortable. We've been doing this for a long time. It's the environment that we've worked in for many years, and we have a strong team. We have great advice, but we also have the hearts and minds of our workers. We work closely. We have a felt leadership approach in our culture where we are close to our people, and mixing all these elements, we're very comfortable with our industrial relation management and structure.
One question here on, if the company is not likely to pay tax in the next few years, will buybacks be an annual event for years to come?
I'll repeat what I said earlier. I think it's core to our capital management program. There is no franking credits, obviously, given the tax position. It is the most efficient allocation of capital and an optimal means of delivering value back to shareholders by removing shares from the register. It has an incremental impact on EPS per share. I think it'll be a core part of our strategy. Cash dividends will also be an element that we'll continue to do, I believe, but we'll continue to receive feedback and be responsive to that feedback as well. Right now, we are all about delivering the business fundamentals of profitability.
One question here on tenders. Your tender wins this year were down relative to the prior period. Will this affect turnover in 2026?
No, thank you. Luke, the contracts that we sign are usually long-term contracts, three to five years. With the board's support and directive, in the last few years, we've gone back and looked at all our contracts and tried to bring the right terms and conditions in those contracts. We exited some areas, as we mentioned earlier, and focused on getting the right contracts that will give us the value that we deserve for the service that we deliver. The contracts that we've signed in the last couple of years are still running. Some of them have got options of extension. It was part of the release when we signed these large contracts. We continue to work closely with our client and really to optimize our fleet and our people and our services into the areas where we will get the right returns.
We are seeing, and you saw the results today. We are seeing an improvement, and we will continue to work on that improvement.
Thanks, Ben. Question here on M&A. Any opportunities in the industry that you can comment on?
Luke, for us, we're focusing on ourselves, on the market. That's what we do. If there was any comments to be made, we will do so through the right channels.
One question here on mine sites have been electrifying on-site plant and operations. Are electric cranes happening yet or diesel?
Yeah, thank you. Very, very opportune question. We're actually putting an announcement this afternoon that we've just put our first electric crane at BHP Olympic Dam. We have been working with our clients, not only in mining, but in construction also. We've started bringing hybrid cranes a couple of years ago that have been well received by the market. Look, there are technical challenges, but we are working with OEMs of these cranes, with our clients in order to meet market demands and working towards the transition of decarbonization in Australia through our industrial practices. The answer is yes. Yeah, there'll be an announcement. Will there be an announcement this afternoon about our progress with the electrification of cranes on-site?
A follow-on to that, on that theme, does that imply lower operating costs potentially?
Luke, yes, the answer is operating costs, yes. Cost of capital has to be factored in as well. We are working closely with the OEMs, but effectively, the cost of operation should improve. It is about getting the right balance between the cost of capital and rates recovered as well.
A question here on progress regarding the search for a new CEO. Are there any updates there?
Luke, do you want to take this one?
Thanks, Ben. Luke, I'll answer this one. Succession planning is the responsibility of the board. Imagine that process in a structured way. What we are focusing on is ensuring that Boom has a clear strategy, strong momentum, and a stable leadership team to continue to deliver. That's the focus.
Okay. Thanks, Lester. Thanks, guys. I can't see any more questions on the line. I might just give a few seconds if anyone wants to put through some last questions. If there aren't, I think that probably concludes today's presentation. Ben, I don't know if you want to make any closing remarks before we finish off.
Thanks, Luke. Again, I would like to reiterate my thanks to everyone online today. It's been certainly a journey in my six years at Boom Logistics. The last three years have been a great story. It's a good story, and it's a story that puts this business and our people on a great trajectory. Just to add on a little bit to the last question, when I started in 2019, 85-87% of the people that were there at the time are here today. We have built the success of this business. It's been built on the people, the culture, and the direction that the board and management have driven in the last few years. The business is in great hands, and it's all positive. It's better. It's not good enough.
The team is aware of that, and they are working very, very hard every day to make this happen.
Ben, thanks very much. Manny, thank you very much. And Lester, thank you very much. There are no further questions on the line. I think that concludes today's presentation. Thank you, everyone, for participating, and look forward to seeing you all again soon. Thank you, guys.
Thank you, Luke.
Thanks, everyone.
Thank you, Luke.