Okay, good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for the Mitchell Services quarterly update. My name is Allen Chan from Bridge Street, and today we have Mitchell Services. We have the Executive Chairman, Nathan Mitchell, Andrew Elf, CEO, and CFO, Greg Switala. We will run through the quarterly, and, if you could, with your questions, just pop in the chat, and then we'll address them at the end of Andrew's speech. Over to you, Andrew. Thank you.
Thanks very much, Allen, and thanks everyone for your interest and for joining us today. I'll just do a bit of an intro to the company and just a couple of comments on, you know, current business strategy growth. A couple of comments on the quarterly. I'll then hand over to Greg to just run through a few key highlights in regards to numbers. And obviously, we've got Nathan Mitchell, our Executive Chairman, with us, who might jump in with a couple of comments along the way. And certainly, Nathan's available to help us with the questions at the end as well. So obviously, for those that are new to Mitchell Services aren't familiar, just a quick touching on our history.
Obviously, Nathan's parents started a private drilling business back in 1969. That private co was sold in the early 2000s to Lucas, ASX-listed Lucas. Five-year non-compete, and then MSV reentered the market in 2013. We've had a significant growth story from that time. We sort of had a handful of people and AUD 20 million revenue to where the company is today. So certainly a lot of organic and inorganic growth over the last ten or so years, using a mix of debt and equity. The business as it is today, obviously very diversified by commodity, sort of split between surface and underground.
And very importantly, we'll touch on this as we go through today, 90% of our book is with Tier One, global miners. From a current strategy perspective, obviously, we've, we've called out that we're going to reduce our debt to AUD 15 million by the thirtieth of June 2025. We're trying to use the rigs that we have. We're being disciplined with growth CapEx, and obviously, we're very focused on net profit after tax, return on capital, and shareholder returns. From a growth perspective, we have grown, significantly over the last 10 years. Our aim is to keep growing, but we're going to be patient, we're going to be opportunistic, and we'll take advantage of the right opportunities when they arise.
Obviously, with that balance sheet getting stronger all the time, that's going to give us optionality to take advantage of those opportunities when they, when they do come. That's just a bit of a quick intro, and we can certainly talk more to that as we get some questions. Just on the quarterly, and really sort of just half year, this year versus half year last year, significantly improved net profit after tax, and obviously the shareholder returns, where there were none in the half last year. Certainly from our perspective, a significant improvement. People would have read about what's happening with nickel and what's happening with lithium, and what's sort of the junior sector is a little bit slow.
And as I said, we're not exposed to nickel or lithium, and we've got a very high-quality contract book with global Tier One major miners. The demand for our services is still very strong. Inflation is easing. Again, that's been publicized. Hasn't been any material contract wins or losses, but the demand remains strong, as I said. We called out the Victorian gold rig count and shifts, and again, that's ordinary course of business. Those underground clients will increase and decrease rig count through the contract term, and we've already seen a couple of rigs go back out down there in Victoria this calendar year.
Importantly, and again, you'll see this more when the results come out on the twenty-second of February and the investor presentation, we have pivoted to surface, we have pivoted to coal. We have taken advantage of that when we can, because of our diversity. And then the sort of the focus from here and moving forward is, is obviously operational efficiency and really working hard as a team to keep trying to drive that top-line gross margin percentage, to have it fall down through to, EBITDA percentages and, and NPAT, et cetera. So yeah, we've proven that we can get those numbers when we, when we have a few things go our way. And it's certainly, a focus for the team.
Before I hand over to Greg, I'll just say, as I said, our results will come out on the 22nd of February. We'll have a call on that day. We'll run through the investor preso, and we'll also be available to answer any questions. So Greg, over to you, with some highlights on the financials.
Thanks very much, Andrew, and morning, everyone. Just to run through some high-level highlights in terms of the quarterly results, as well as the half-year numbers. Obviously, strong EBITDA performance in the second quarter of AUD 8.4 million. That's up nearly 30% on PCP, with that improvement really driven by a gradual improvement in the margin as opposed to top-line revenue, as Andrew sort of alluded earlier. And then from a year-to-date perspective, that brings EBITDA now to AUD 20 million, again, up 20% on PCP. So good to see that earnings increase from an EBITDA perspective.
But more importantly, and as Andrew said earlier, it's really in terms of the profitability below that EBITDA line that we are starting to see some of that leverage play out, and that's really off a backdrop of lower depreciation, lower interest charge. So our earnings before tax of AUD 6.2 million for the half was significantly up on the prior period. And as I said, just evidence there of that bottom line earnings leverage beginning to play through.
Very importantly as well, with that rig count now stabilizing to an extent, and with a lack of significant working capital requirements, the cash flow generation in the business is beginning to look particularly attractive, with operating cash flows for the half of AUD 24 million, at a cash conversion ratio now well over 100%. We'll talk to that a little later on in terms of what that's done to net debt, et cetera. As Andrew mentioned, we have called out an expectation that NPAT will be between AUD 4 million and AUD 4.5 million, and that'll be released on the 22nd of February with that half year pack.
From a capital management update perspective, just rounding off, in line with MSV's dividend policy, we expect that the interim dividend will be somewhere between 1.5 cents and 2 cents per share, just pending that final profitability outcome. Capital expenditure, importantly as well, has remained at modest levels. AUD 9.7 million for the half, very much in line with expectations, and broadly in line with the previous period as well. And then very importantly, as I sort of mentioned earlier, you know, a combination of those strong operating cash flows, the modest level of CapEx, has driven a significant reduction in that net debt figure.
A reduction of nearly 50% now to AUD 9.1 million, which is a particularly strong result. We have called out that we remain on track to reach the net debt target of AUD 15 million by the end of 30th of June, the end of the financial year. With that increase between now and then really driven by the fact that a dividend is gonna be paid, as well as a bit of extra working capital associated with the expectation that the second half will be stronger from a revenue perspective, and there's usually a little bit of a working capital requirement in relation to that increase. That's probably it from me.
Allen, if you wanted to,
How much? Okay, quick comments. Thanks, Allen.
Yeah.
Look, I think the result's excellent. I think the team's done a fantastic job. I shouldn't read HotCopper, but I do, and it does frustrate me. But I think the guys have done an excellent job and the team's done really well in the field. Obviously, the metrics are all up from last year, and that really just comes back to, you know, we've spent the money two years ago now on the new equipment, and that cost is just flowing through now to the bottom line. Whilst we'd like to see utilization up, fundamentally, like Andrew said before, underground rigs come and go. And we really can't force our clients to give us more work. It is what it is, in essentially the East Coast of Australia.
And certainly, Victoria has dropped off. I think a few years ago when we did the deal with Deepcore, and it was an excellent deal for the company going forward, there was a huge opportunity down there which I think the Victorian government missed on the basis, or on the back of, Kirkland Lake, and that there was gonna be a whole lot of drilling activity around Kirkland Lake. That sort of missed due to the Victorian government sort of sitting on their hands. But needless to say, I think a lot of the investors last year were putting their hands back in their pockets on gold, certainly on gold smaller companies. And in Victoria, that's probably where majority of our projects are that aren't Tier One. And that certainly dropped off.
Obviously, underground rigs work double shift, 365 days a year. That's the difference between shift counts versus rigs. Obviously, as Andrew said, the rig count on the surface has increased and the ability to continue to move rigs around on the surface between, you know, minerals and coal is our benefit. And from our point of view, coal is still, you know, strong and steady. And I say steady because that's what coal is. It's not the up and down of the Western Australian market, like lithium's booming, and then it's off. Gold's on, then it's off. So it's strong and it's steady even in spite of government and greens, you know, pushing it. So I think we're pretty happy with that.
And that's been, that's been excellent for us. You know, even our competitors in that market, Lucas, you know, obviously are struggling, but we've, we've continued to make inroads in that market and, and are gaining traction, overall. So I think the numbers are great. You know, the only number that I'm sure people are gonna go and ask is our tier one peers then on our EBITDA number. And I think fundamentally, to answer that question is really around the fact that we are more around a Tier One supplier, especially in the coal. You know, the margins are great, but they're not gonna be as good as greenfield exploration in the field, which is a far more riskier play. And the East Coast is just different to Western Australia.
You know, Western Australia is still running at 128 $ a ton for iron ore and was, you know, a huge price for lithium. That's now dropped off. Again, East Coast is a more steady business, and that's what we're trying to build here, is a long-term, steady business, that, hopefully, you know, generates dividends. So I think between dividends and buybacks, the business is certainly on track to do what it, needs to do and continue what it's doing. So again, there's always room for improvement. We're always looking for the one percenters, but fundamentally, we're pretty happy.
Very good. Thank you. Nathan?
... If it's okay, guys, we'll move some to the questions here. So the first one, obviously on your chat as well, from Anonymous: Can you comment on outstanding receivables from that gold mining client and the potential for recovery?
I'll take that one, Allen. So Balmaine Gold Mine is per our financials and accounts, there's exposure in terms of that fully provided receivable of about AUD 2 million. That gold mine through the administration process has been sold to new owners pursuant to a DOCA that was put in place. Under the terms of that DOCA, unsecured creditors, such as ourselves, have got the ability, potentially, to receive a dividend of up to sort of AUD 0.30, but it's highly contingent upon cashflow performances of the mine over a 3-year period. So to be honest, we're not banking on that.
If anything eventuates from that, and to the extent that those cash flows are positive, there could be something, but we'll really take that as upside, you know, down the track if we get it. But importantly, you know, these numbers are all prepared on the basis of that AUD 2 million being fully provided for.
We're continuing to work for that company now, are not we?
We do now work for the new owners on that gold mine. Obviously, fair to say, under different commercial rates, different payment terms versus previous, and we'll watch that closely, no doubt, but has gone well so far.
Just in regards to the next question, zero exposure to nickel and lithium, which is to sort of some of the previous comments and to Nathan's comments, that, you know, we're really focused on those other commodities that are sort of more sustainable on low-cost, long-life mines with global Tier One majors. Wage inflation, yes, things have improved. I certainly think in the mineral space, access to labor is improved, and certainly, as I mentioned, inflation across the board is easing. You know, we don't anticipate any sort of remuneration increases in the minerals part of our business, unless mandated by Fair Work to do so, which is predominantly at the lower end of our skilled employees or new entrants to the business.
In the coal side of the business, still very busy, and everyone's quite busy there. Coal prices are strong. The labor market is a bit tighter, but again, not to the point where it's inflationary. I think it's still better than it was. So overall, labor markets for us are better than they have been, which is really good. Hang on for a minute.
Yeah.
I'll see the other ones. Do you want me to read that one? I'll read it out for you. It seems the buyback pace has slowed down in the last quarter, despite decent volume going through the market. Any reason for the company is not more aggressive buying back shares at these very attractive levels?
I mean, I might make a start on that and then take any further comments. The policy put forward by the board in terms of splits between dividends and buybacks was essentially to the extent that the company makes profits, return those via dividends. And as we called out a few months ago, where we made a couple of asset sales, that was representative of excess capacity, I suppose. Then in theory, to the extent that the rig count's reducing and the theoretical earnings capacity is reducing, we'll use those proceeds from those sales back to shareholders in terms of buybacks. So nothing's fundamentally changed there.
So I suppose in short, to answer the question, that there haven't really been asset sales to the extent that there were. That was driving the increased buyback, you know, six months ago, or whenever that was. We remain committed to returning profits to shareholders in the form of dividends.
Got it. Thank you, Greg. Next question: With PLV HCC greater than $300 a ton, are you seeing more demand for exploration drilling?
I don't know, Nathan-
What is PL-?
Premium.
Premium, coking coal?
Yeah. You got any comments on the coal?
Look, I think the... You know, I don't know. I can't see too many more new coal mines starting up in the future. I think it's just gonna run out for the next 10, 15, 20 years. There's a couple starting, but you know, I think as I said before, it's a strong and steady industry. It's not boom and bust. We certainly saw that, you know, 10, 15 years ago, you know, in the coal industry. I think that at the moment, these guys, the miners, are committed to trying to get out what they need to get out of the ground. And you know, for them to ramp up or ramp down, I think is, you know, it's difficult.
So I think we're pretty busy doing the gas drainage for all those mines up there in the underground. I think they'll just stay steady. I can't see that, you know, suddenly people are coming in and buying new mines and starting again.
Thank you, Nathan. Can you also comment on the weather impacts this year to date? Yeah, it's been challenging. It hasn't hurt us too badly, but it has been challenging. So certainly we've got rigs at South32 at Cannington. Obviously, people might have seen that rain that went through Winton and out there, so we've had some delays. And similarly through the coalfields, a few delays. But again, that really we don't lose money, but we don't make money. And, you know, and therefore, it sort of impacts that EBITDA percentage, of course. But certainly, the rain we've seen, you know, in the first 31 days of the year, not above and beyond what we've got in the budget or forecast. So it's, you know, there's no negatives for us.
We're on track. We've said at the investor prezos and previously that we expect year-on-year net profit after tax to be greater than the previous year. We certainly stand by that.
Thanks, Andrew. A question from Daniel Cini: The AUD 16 million NAB facility taken out to acquire Deepcore is set to be fully repaid in the year ahead. Once this is completed, will you look to establish any other borrowing facilities for strategic opportunities going forward?
A couple of things there. That sixteen million dollar facility has actually been given the strong cash flows, as outlined. We've actually repaid that to zero in January, which is good news, and obviously part of the reason that the interest rate or the interest charge continues to come down. Importantly, though, and to answer that question, that facility has got a redraw mechanism built in for acquisitions. Just subject to NAB being satisfied with the acquisition. So, you know, that would be there potentially if there was anything in terms of strategic opportunities, we could certainly take advantage of that.
I dare say, just given where the overall debt profile is now as well, you know, to the extent that that was a larger opportunity, I wouldn't see NAB having any issue with them with extending that or increasing that, should they need to. But the short answer is: it's got a redraw facility for exactly those purposes.
Thanks, Andrew. Next one. Do you see any interesting inorganic growth options?
We see them all the time. I don't know. I think we've done DD on, I don't know, 3 or 4 the last 6 months. We're always looking at... Well, people bring them to us, and or we're looking, and we'll always do the DD, and we'll always look at opportunities to grow the business, as long as it's, you know, fits with, with us. The difficult part for us, and, and to be honest, and most people will be on there, is that when we're trading at the levels we're at, for us to bring an acquisition to the board and, and, and then obviously bringing it to the shareholders, makes it very difficult. You know, if we're trading on a smaller multiple, when we're trying to buy someone else on a higher multiple.
So it needs to be the right transaction. But we're always looking at transactions.
Thanks, Nathan. A question from Neil Watson. Any comment on how we... Okay, you may have addressed this earlier, Andrew, but, if you want to add to it. Yeah, wet weather in Queensland affecting this quarter?
Yeah, I mean, we obviously can't, you know, we've got no idea what the weather's gonna do moving forward. I don't even think BOM knows what they're doing anymore. But, you know, obviously, as I said, the weather we've had to date, you know, hasn't impacted our forecasts or anything like that. I think we're in pretty good shape so far. So, you know, unless something completely diabolical does happen, I think we're gonna be okay, hopefully.
Yeah, that, that's a similar question from, from Tom as well. So hope that was okay, Tom. Next one: How much of the AUD 9.7 million CapEx in the first half is maintenance CapEx, and where do you expect full-year CapEx to be?
With the exception of one new LF160 rig that was delivered to service excess demand from one of our major clients. With the exception of that one rig, it's all maintenance CapEx. And in terms of full year numbers, I think Daniel had us in his coverage at somewhere around 17.5, which I think is a good number.
Yeah. So we are covered by Morgans, and we are covered by Q Value, so certainly I'd sort of point people in that direction for to have a look at some of those papers. They're quite... They're very good.
The next one, change in ownership with the BMA assets, any impacts on you guys?
No. The assets that are being sold by BMA, we are not working on, so no issues there. From an MSP perspective, we are working with BMA at Broadmeadow, and business as usual, so no impacts.
Thanks, Andrew. Okay, next one. What does the change in ownership at Boart Longyear mean for the industry?
It'll be interesting to see. When you get bought out by PE, usually they squeeze the lemon, so it'll be interesting. We're sort of asking the same question ourselves internally. We have, and the team's built up a very large inventory base and continue to do so, so that we're, you know, trying to protect any downside or upside. But we would think that they would want to grow that business. So, you know, whether they spin out the services or whether they spin out the supply business, manufacturing business, is yet to be seen. I think it'll be, it'll be interesting, for sure. So I say, let's see in six months' time.
Mm-hmm. And then the valuation on the sale was interesting, too. I mean, if you have a look at what that was completed at versus what other respective companies are trading at on the markets. You know, you can form your own view on that. So I think that's probably interesting, too.
I guess to add to that, Andrew, I guess if they do sort of spin out businesses, and I guess with your, you know, history there, do you guys take a look in on some things that you may want or look interesting that you would consider?
Yeah, yeah. As all of those things that, where we can vertically integrate, where we can, you know, obviously add value to our cost base or decrease our cost base, we'd be looking at. But it, again, really early days. We've got no idea what the, you know, the funds guys are gonna do with it. So it'll be interesting. Really interesting.
Thank you. Maybe a question from me. Obviously, you know, you guys aren't in lithium or nickel, but obviously, with mine closures and whatnot, are you seeing any other sort of movements in the environment as far as sort of, you know, other businesses having difficulty or possibilities of closing mines outside of, you know, maybe nickel and lithium?
No. No, not that I've seen anything. You know, you look at the eastern states, I think, certainly from our clients' perspective, they're on the lowest cost, longest life, you know, best deposit mine sites on this side of the country. The commodity prices for, you know, gold and silver at Cannington and certainly met coal and other things are very good, and they're making a fortune.
Mm.
You know, and there's a good, strong demand for drilling. You know, again, it has been tough for some of the drillers outside of some of the smaller drillers or some of the drillers that don't have a high-quality contract book. One went into administration recently, Nathan.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Up around the Mount Isa region. So again, it's you know, it's important to have that business that's focused on the right clients, the right projects, the right commodities, you know, so it can be... But I certainly think we're looking pretty good on this side of the country, to be honest.
Yeah. Just follow up on me, Andrew, just, can you remind me just on the, on the contracts and, and the pricing cycle? I, I think typically it was three years and, and because you're sort of rolling, 30% of the contracts roll every year, right? Is that sort of the, the simple math there? You sort of get incremental-
Yeah, correct. I mean, you'd say typical contract length, three years. It does vary. It is either longer or shorter, too, but you'd say on average, that's correct. 30% of the book would roll per year. And as we said to people, you know, previously in previous presentations that, you know, inflation did move faster at a previous point in time than we could reset our rates. And I think it's probably fair to say now that we've caught up and refreshed a lot of the rates that we needed to.
Yeah.
A couple of contracts we're just finalizing now and then that's effectively done. Then you would say from here that everything's been rebalanced and reset, and you're really looking at sort of, you know, again, CPI-type increases from this point forwards.
Got it. Thank you. Yeah, from Daniel. So, what should we expect for average operating rigs in the second half versus the 74 during the first half?
Yeah, I mean, you know, when you look at the revenue that's in the coverage from Morgans and the coverage from Q Value, you know, you can obviously compare H1, H2 and see what we're saying, you know, roughly where you think H2 might fall out. Probably fair to say it's gonna be equal to or greater than that number, you know, to sort of come in where that coverage is suggesting.
Thanks, Andrew. Okay, another question from Jason. Can you see that one there, Andrew? I think, we sort of partially covered it, but if you want to sort of reiterate, Greg, obviously with net debt down and appearing to be on target for nil net debt by mid-year, considering cash building this past half year, is there a plan to distribute additional capital shareholders or build a strong balance sheet for potential inorganic growth? Or look towards organic growth in the medium term. So maybe partially answered before, but, to split between net profits, but, if you wanted to reiterate.
Yes, I think if I'm interpreting that correctly, it's on assumption that we reach the net debt target at the end of this year, then what are the plans sort of going forward? I think the answer is probably a combination of all of those, to be honest. To the extent that there's an inorganic opportunity, we will certainly look at that.
To the extent that there aren't any, then as we've sort of, you know, highlighted in terms of the potential, you know, cash flows and financial performance, then the opportunity is there to absolutely continue to distribute it to shareholders and, to the extent that those, you know, free cash flows increase, then so too should the returns to shareholders.
Perfect. Thanks, Greg. That's all the questions on Q&A. Please feel free to ask any more on the chat. Otherwise, we can wrap it up here. Just from Jason as well, this is recorded, so I'll reach out to you guys individually and let you know of the recording and obviously provide Daniel's research as well. So last chance for questions, please.
All good?
Okay, that's it.
Thanks a lot.
Nathan, Andrew, Greg, thank you very much. Thank you for everyone for attending today.
Thanks. Really appreciate the time. Cheers.
Thanks.
Thanks, everyone.
Thanks. Bye.