Would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Peter De Leo, Managing Director. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much, and thank you for calling in today to our first-half result presentation. For those on the call, I'm sure you're very familiar with our company, Lycopodium, our approach, and our focus areas. The focus remained unchanged across this last year. So we're known for our consistent approach, and our board and key management certainly remain unchanged across the last six months, last year. We have a very stable board, a very stable group of key managers across the business heading up all the subsidiary businesses in Lycopodium, and I'm very pleased to say that there's been no major change in any of that.
Our earnings per share, in terms of some of the fundamental metrics, and I'll talk more about that later, but our earnings per share is up 51% from the corresponding period last year, and we've declared a half-year dividend of AUD 0.37, reflecting broadly in line with the dividend policy. We have seen some movement in the register in the last six months. However, the split between board and management and institutions and retail remains very similar to at this time a year ago. Our breadth of service delivery across the sectors we service continues to be a key strength of the organization. Our early involvement in feasibility study work and in project evaluation, and our reputation that we have built in project delivery really has underpinned and continues to underpin a high level of repeat business and a high level of sole sourcing with Lycopodium.
That's, I think, been fundamental to our sort of ongoing success. A very broad series of services that we provide across the three sectors of mineral resources, industrial processes, and rail infrastructure. Our strategic but steady approach to increasing our geographic markets has seen us open an office in Lima just in December. The initial phase of that office is to provide another value engineering center similar to what we have in Manila, which we've built across the last 15 years. Future phases of Lima, however, is for it to develop into a full-service office, but of course, that will take time. This is an organic growth initiative, but early days in Lima and early signs are extremely positive, not only for supporting the engineering and design part of what we're doing in the Minerals Americas geography, but also enabling us to source skilled people.
Labor markets across the world remain, for us, tight, but Lima is another market for us to be able to secure people not only for, as I said, the engineering design but project controls, project services, and also to support some of our sites across the globe. So again, we see that as a very positive thing. In terms of current snapshot, we have reaffirmed previously provided guidance of revenue of around AUD 345 million for the year and NPAT between AUD 46 million-AUD 50 million for the year, full year, obviously reflecting a continued strong year. We currently have over 1,300 staff, so it's just ticked over the 1,300 staff in the business. As I mentioned earlier, we're known for the longevity and longstanding service of our key team members and our key teams, and that hasn't changed.
We're managing over AUD 4 billion worth of capital projects as we speak, and I'll touch on the projects and studies in resources, but we're delivering over 35 projects and in excess of 40 major studies in resources across our various offices. I'll talk a little bit more about the investment we're making in some of the strategic initiatives, being people, assistance with platforms, and geographic diversification a little later. That is a longstanding strategy within the business, again, which I think has really bode or has supported very, very positively the operational side of the business across the last 12 months. We've maintained our strong record of delivering our work safely and responsibly, but I do note that this remains or demands continued focus and diligence on our part and on the part of the contractors that work here on our various sites.
The current rolling 12 months, we've managed over 14 million man-hours for very, very low industry-compared-to-industry standards, LTIFR , and total incident frequency rates. So we're very pleased with what we've been able to achieve, but it does take an enormous amount of effort, and I'm very proud of the work the team has done across the globe. We mentioned the number of projects we're working on. Obviously, it doesn't come without a lot of hard work and diligence, and the team continues to perform exceptionally well in that area. So in terms of financial highlights, so revenue is up by 11% this time last year to AUD 177.8 million. EBIT is up 35% this time last year to AUD 43.6 million, and profit and sorry, NPAT is up 50% this time at the moment against this time last year with an NPAT of AUD 30 million.
That really reflects the unwinding of some provisions for defects liability, specifically on the Séguéla gold project, which you're seeing on the screen there. That project has come out of a defects liability or will come out of defects liability this financial year. We've unwound a significant portion of that in the first half, reflecting the diminishing sort of exposure there. We're down in terms of cash in bank. I guess that's down 28%. That really is, I guess, two things. A, it's a point in time at the obviously, the 31st of December, but also reflects the higher working capital load within the business, really reflecting the increased activity in EPCM and just the increased workload in the business. So it's not unexpected. Sectorally, again, we've seen growth in, obviously, resources that has further exacerbated sort of the skew to resources within the business.
We haven't seen the same level of growth in the rail infrastructure and industrial processes. So we're doing 94% of our revenue in mineral resources. But the work that we are doing in the rail infrastructure and particularly in the industrial processes, particularly with a view to the energy transition, is important to the business and represents some meaningful and material opportunities to the business moving forward. And revenue by geography, again, we are still sort of skewed towards Africa. We're working in 14 different countries in Africa, but you have seen a growth or a shift to more work in other geographies across the last 12 months, and we're going to see that continue to be the case with the ramp-up of certain projects forecast to occur in the next 12 months in geographic areas other than Africa.
But yeah, we're very happy with the split and very happy with the work that we're doing to maintain a balance in that regard. In terms of balance sheet, I guess the key thing here for me is the total equity is up 8% this time last year. That's obviously how current assets are down, but liabilities are down. The total equity is up AUD 221.7 million with an NTA per share of AUD 2.90.
Again, it's the consistent thing and something we've remained known for: very, very strong balance sheet, minimal debt. The debt that you see, the AUD 0.7 million-AUD 2.6 million, really is just a reflection of our insurance program that will then normalize across the full year. It's just AUD 2.6 million at the six months. And we remain a strong, stable business in everything we do. So the balance sheet's purely a reflection of the business.
It's prudent and appropriate management to financial risk, commercial risk, contractual risk, is embodied in this balance sheet. Just by way of operational highlights, I'll touch on some of the things we've been doing. So certainly, again, we remain very, very busy, and that's certainly been a constant the last 12 months, and forecasts remain busy into the next 12 months and foreseeable future. Certain projects which are transitioning from construction into the commissioning phase, and we're very heavily in commissioning a number of projects at the moment, including Liontown's Kathleen Valley project, where you'll start seeing the commissioning of the front end of that plant across the next couple of months. And then by the end of this financial year, we're expecting to be commissioning the full plant.
The Sabodala-Massawa BIOX expansion, the large gold project, Endeavour in Senegal, that's very heavily into commissioning and again a little bit more involved from a commissioning perspective than the traditional gold project being a BIOX plant. The Lafigué project in Côte d'Ivoire, again Endeavour, that's in commissioning phase as we speak. Leo Lithium's Goulamina lithium project in Mali, that's in commissioning. And the Langer Heinrich uranium project in Namibia, that is at the very tail end of construction and commissioning is well underway and going very well. So again, the highlight for me with the fact that we're so heavily into commissioning, the risks and hazards tend to change from construction into commissioning, and our teams have managed that very effectively and still performing extremely well from not only a delivery perspective but from a safety perspective.
Other key projects which are well into construction: the Ahafo North project , large gold project for Newmont in Ghana. The CGP or chemical-grade processing plant 3 project for Talison in Greenbushes, Western Australia. Batu Hijau expansion project, copper gold in Indonesia for AMNT. The Mutamba Mineral Sands pilot plant in Mozambique and the Kiaka gold project for West African Resources in Burkina Faso are all heavily into construction. We're so heavily into construction and sort of midstream construction. Some highlights with regard to our industrial processes and rail infrastructure businesses. In the last six months, we completed the detailed design for CSL Seqirus's influenza vaccine facility in Melbourne. We're undertaking Pilbara Minerals ' midstream projects, so the design for their value-added lithium project in Pilgangoora operation in WA, and that's been done over at Melbourne office out of the industrial processes office.
Where in terms of rail infrastructure, one of the key things we've been undertaking is ARTC's Southern Highlands Overtaking Opportunities detailed design package, quite a material package done out of our Newcastle office. We were awarded in July, so at the start of the six months, the three-year contract to conduct rail infrastructure inspection at all of Pacific National sites across Australia. That business is continuing to grow. That rail infrastructure management business is continuing to grow on the back of the quality of the work we've been continuing to do. Some company highlights.
First, as you can see, the image of our initial Lima team in the new office in Peru, as I mentioned, that is intended in the first phase, in fact, Phase 1 and Phase 2, is intended to provide the value engineering to our broader business and for that to steadily grow our footprint in Latin America. It's the first part of our plan that we have there. The second thing is we've released our inaugural sustainability report in November 2023. It's been very well received. I think it showcases what we do as an organization across the whole sustainability gamut of the ESG space. It talks about the things that we have in place. It talks about the way that we conduct our business. It talks about our aspirations and the way that we support our clients and their projects across the globe.
So if you haven't had a chance to have a look at it, I encourage you to do so. It's on our website. Focusing in on resources and mineral resources, again, this is a slide that we've included in the last couple of years just to give people an understanding of the project or study and project pipeline. As you well know, the level of future activity and how busy we might be in 2025 is really very, very much indicated by the number of studies that we have at any given time. I'm happy to say we maintain and continue to maintain a very healthy pipeline of studies, quality study work, try to be strategic in the work that we pursue and we take on because ultimately, we want to see we want to be delivering those studies and delivering those projects that we study.
So this slide gives you an idea, in the orangey, those projects that are in the engineering and early stages. In the red, those that are transitioned or in construction. I've spoken about a lot of those already. Then those that are in the late stages of construction and into commissioning. And again, I've spoken about those and those that we've completed across the last 12 months. So you can see it's a very broad base of clients, a very broad base of commodities and geographies, which again talks to our longstanding strategic approach. Oops. Sorry. Let's go back. Again, they're talking about commodities and talking about mineral resources. You can see the number of projects and studies that we're doing in some of those key commodities which we have a high level of expertise.
In terms of outlook and strategy, notwithstanding, we've seen, across the last 12 months, some softening in some of the commodity prices, particularly around the energy transition and this transition to electrification of society. You may have a view or may consider it's hit a little bit of a speed bump in terms of how that's reflected in the price of lithium, the price of nickel, etc. However, the long-term outlook remains extremely strong. Certainly, the genie's out of the bottle with regard to the energy transition, and there's really no stopping that. We see that there's strong long-term demand for the minerals and metals we help to produce and what we do. This will continue to attract capital, and that's key. We work across the battery minerals in lithium, in copper, in graphite, nickel, and everything else associated with that.
So for us, we see that as a very positive thing. The other part, of course, Lycopodium started and continues to be possibly the preeminent engineer in the world in the delivery of gold projects. Certainly, value of gold remains high, driven by usual factors. So we maintain a healthy pipeline of gold projects moving forward. We've talked about our other sectors, the industrial processes and rail infrastructure. Certainly, our industrial processes business is continuing to see a good market. Really, that's still that focus on the domestic Australian manufacturing. We're seeing some good opportunities emerge there, as well as the industrial processes business is really a good segue and the tie between what we do in mineral resources and battery minerals and some of the more advanced industrial processes that go to support the energy transition.
In the rail infrastructure, there has been probably a tightening of the market, the macro market in terms of the east coast of Australia in terms of rail. I think that tends to probably impact the larger rail-focused contractors than ourselves. We're finding that in some regards, we've got some of our clients such as the ARTCs and others who are sort of pivoting and really focusing on trying to eke maximum value out of their existing and future infrastructure. And that talks to what we provide in terms of the niche services that we provide to them. So I think we're seeing a reasonably strong market for our rail infrastructure business as well. So yeah, I've spoken about the energy transition and the like, but really, we're seen as a macro environment.
Our services remain highly sought after, not only in Australia but across all of our operations across the world and across all our markets. So it's still a very good time to be in our business. In terms of strategies, those of you that have been following us would see that this remains largely unchanged. We regularly review our strategy and our strategic approach to our business, but we're about tweaking around, evolving, and improving on a steady path. The steady path is geographic reach. We continue to look to how we might service existing and new clients who would value the services and the expertise that we could bring particularly to the resources sector. Certainly, we've set up some new offices. Obviously, we've set up in new countries to support current and future projects.
And we've spoken around how we're looking to try to tap into what is a very, very large market in the Americas with a steady and progressive approach. We continue to maintain a balanced portfolio of projects at the moment. Primarily, our projects are EPCM, service-based delivery. However, we do have a number of irons in the fire to maintain that mix of EPCM and EPC-style project delivery. We think it's important that we maintain that availability, and certainly, we have a focus on pursuing that balanced portfolio of projects. In terms of people, we continue to look to attract, to develop, and to retain the very best people. We've invested heavily in our people strategies, everything from new HR information system, development programs, e-learning, staff reward programs. So we're very focused on making sure that we attract the best people and keep the best people.
We've just recently completed our second annual engagement survey across the business, and we've improved across all metrics. And more importantly, we've identified areas which we can focus on which can help us to continue to improve across the next 12 months. We continue to invest in our systems, our processes, and the like. We are in a very advanced stage of rolling out our new ERP across the business. Quite a number of the business units already have the new ERP in operation. And by the end of this calendar year, we expect to have it rolled out across the business, and early signs are very, very promising. This is really around making sure that we have the one single source of truth in terms of financials and project delivery and the like across the entire business.
So I think we've done very well in the past, but this is with a view to making life easier. We continue to focus on other systems and tools that make it easier for our staff to work efficiently and effectively. And again, in our most recent engagement survey, that was an area of very positive feedback from the staff that they feel very well supported in that regard. As an engineer in project delivery business, it is critically important for us to remain innovative. We have now the longstanding Lycopodium Innovation Award program in place that continues to be well supported and well championed. People continue to submit very interesting innovation initiatives for consideration in the business, and it's something which I think is getting legs from really an embedded culture perspective.
As I've mentioned earlier, really, the energy transition from a macro market perspective continues to give us really a strong market for the services that we provide. We're happy that we feel we're on the right track and remain on the right track. That's it for the formal presentation. I'm happy to take any questions anyone might have.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. We'll now pause a short moment to allow questions to be registered. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone. We are showing no questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr. De Leo for closing remarks.
Okay. Thank you very much. Look, as always, if you do have any questions or you'd like to make contact with us, please feel free to contact myself or Justine Campbell, our CFO, with any questions you may have. I thank you for listening in today. I hope you found it informative, and thank you for your interest and ongoing support. Thank you very much.