I'd now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Jules Pemberton, CEO. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning, everyone. Good morning or good afternoon, depending on where you are. Joining me today is Peter Bryant, our CFO, for our FY 2026 Half Year results. Exceptional set of results for this half year, particularly when compared to last year and some of the challenges we had in PCP. We'll skip through the highlights. Well, I'll skip through the highlights, sustainability, and then I'll hand over to Pete, and then I'll take you through the business's operating performances as well. So just a comment on the second page. We've now got a workforce of more than 12,000 people, so we're saying circa 12,000 people. That's at 12,000 people and growing, obviously, given the activity levels we're supporting across the group.
If I skip over the page to the half year financial results, we delivered revenue up 20% or 19.5% to AUD 2 billion. The underlying EBITDA was AUD 132.3 million, up 36.5% on the half, an underlying NPAT of AUD 83.1 million, up 42.3% on the half. Record cash holdings for the business of AUD 342.4 million, and very strong cash conversion, which again, Pete will talk to more, but a very strong focus for the business units. Underlying earnings per share of AUD 0.181. Strong order book has grown a bit since the AGM, AUD 7.5 billion, including repeat business.
But what's really grown is the outlook and the pipeline, which is for projects to be tendered/awarded within a 12-month period. That's now AUD 25.2 billion, and we have a record of AUD 9.2 billion in active tenders currently submitted and being worked on. Fully franked, interim dividend declared at AUD 0.085 a share, is up 20% on the PCP. And importantly, and I'll talk more about this during the presentation, as we've further upgraded our guidance to AUD 275-285 million of EBITDA, from 260-265, which we disclosed at the AGM. So on the next page, I'll talk about sustainability. We obviously always have a very strong focus on the safety and well-being of our people, and also critical risk management.
I'm encouraged to see that the TRIFR has improved, albeit slightly from our position of six previously. That's down to 5.1. Critical risk management implementation is very close to completion across all of our businesses, and obviously, having the acquisition of Fredon done recently, it'll be rolled out across their business as well. Some of the decreases in female participation and Indigenous are really due to the inclusion of the Fredon workforce and, and the increase in blue-collar workforce, which is predominantly male, so that's had a negative effect on some of those stats. But, overall, obviously, we're looking to improve those stats. So, with that, I'll hand over to Pete to talk through the financials, and I'll cover up again on operations shortly.
Thanks, Jules, and can I also welcome everyone to the call? This is my second results presentation as the CFO of NRW, and obviously very happy to be presenting such a great set of numbers. Earnings, margins, cash, gearing, all reflect very positively for the half. I'm on slide five now. So Jules has already called out all the key numbers, which leaves me with, I guess, the opportunity to present the most engaging commentary I can around amortization, interest, tax, and non-underlying. If you just run down the numbers there, amortization of acquisition intangibles was up on the prior corresponding period. That increase all relates to the amortization of the Fredon customer-related intangibles that we booked, and I'll talk about the Fredon acquisition on the next slide. Non-underlying transactions at AUD 10 million.
There is a table in the directors' report, that gives you a full breakdown of that number. The largest single item is AUD 6.7 million, and relates to Fredon acquisition costs and the treatment of the deferred consideration for Fredon, which is another item I'll touch on on the next slide. Interest was flat year-on-year or half-on-half, which when you think we used debt to fund the acquisition of Fredon, is a great outcome, reflects the requirements and, the retirement of some equipment financing, and we did manage to negotiate a reduction in our interest rates with our banking syndicate. Finally, on that slide, tax, very stable at just under 30% of NPAT. Moving to slide, Slide 6, which deals with the impact of the Fredon acquisition.
As an opening comment, I am going to say, sometimes accounting standards can add a level of complexity to how we're required to disclose things, and I think this is one of those times. Just as a brief recap, when we announced Fredon, we pointed out the total consideration would be a maximum of AUD 200 million on a debt-free, cash-free basis. The AUD 200 million comprised a guaranteed payment of AUD 140 million and an earn-out of up to AUD 60 million. Of the maximum consideration, a payment of AUD 18 million was going to be deferred for two years. Now, the good news is Fredon achieved its earn-out, so we will be paying the maximum consideration of AUD 200 million. So this slide now shows how we have to account for that.
If you look at the column on the far right-hand side, I'll just move down the numbers for you. You can see at the top the AUD 200 million acquisition price. We are required under the accounting standard to deduct from that the AUD 18 million deferred payment. Because that deferred payment is tied to the retention of the minority shareholders, again, under the accounting standard, that deferred payment is treated as an employee expense, not as part of the consideration. We will be providing for that payment through our P&L, and that amount will be disclosed as non-underlying, and that formed part of that non-underlying balance I referred to on the prior slide. Continuing to move down, you'll see we add back AUD 45 million. The AUD 45 million was a pre-agreed maximum working capital adjustment that was to be made.
I did mention the acquisition was on a debt-free, cash-free basis. We then are required to deduct what we're calling seller deductions. These are payments that were made on behalf of the seller by us, out of the seller's consideration. As an example, some of their legal fees were paid by us out of their consideration. The math then gives you a number of AUD 208.1 million. That is the total consideration under AASB 3, which we will use for calculating goodwill. You'll then see a 55, or sorry, AUD 53.7 million cash adjustment. That is actually the cash that was in the business when the transaction concluded. So you recall, I just said, the working capital adjustment was AUD 45 million. We actually had a gain because on conclusion, there was AUD 53.7 million of cash in the business.
That then gives you the final cash outlay of AUD 154. I'll call out the bottom bullet point on that slide. So on a like-for-like basis, if you think of the announced AUD 200 million purchase price, we effectively paid AUD 191.3 million for the business due to the additional cash that came across to us. And you can see the commentary there on what the earnings multiple would be at that level. So as I said, sometimes accounting standards do add some complexity to how we report. Moving on to the balance sheet, which is Slide 7. Perhaps fairly obvious, but off the back of the Fredon acquisition, pretty much every balance in the balance sheet moved. I'm going to call out the two or three that I think are most important.
Net debt, you'll see, increased to AUD 200.4 million, and importantly, leverage was sitting at 22.1 before AASB 16. That balance is actually lower than I think I gave guidance to in previous conversations with most folk on the phone. The gearing was better than expected due to the really strong cash balance that we had at the half. I'm just going to call out, we do still have to pay out the AUD 60 million payment in relation to Fredon, so I do expect gearing will tickle up a little bit during the second half of this year, but should close the full year at or a bit below 30%.
Working capital, you'll see there, we had an increase to 207.6 million in our negative working capital. That is negative working capital. Just to remind everyone, negative working capital is actually a positive. And I think with the time we did the Fredon acquisition, we did call out that Fredon runs that business with negative working capital, very focused on getting paid in advance for the work they do. My last call-out on the balance sheet is in relation to intangibles and goodwill. You'll see that balance has increased. That increase all relates to the Fredon acquisition. We will be booking customer-related intangibles of AUD 95.3 million and goodwill of AUD 141.7 million.
Moving down to the cash flow, and Jules did reference the very, very good cash flow conversion is 114.1. That cash flow conversion was underpinned by two things: by a significant effort of the team to get debtor balances paid. There were a couple of older balances that we recovered during the period, which was great. We also, through one of our major clients, received some early payment of invoices that were due at the end of the month. So a little bit of a one-off kicker for us. We have called out in the guidance that we expect cash flow conversion to be consistent with long-term averages, so don't see it at 114% for the full year. We have a AUD 69.2 million tax payment.
I'm calling that out just because it is up on the prior period. Again, we have called this out on previous calls. The business had the benefit of some carry forward tax losses and some accelerated capital deductions during the COVID period. Those are now unwinding, and we're reversing back to what I'd call a more normal cash tax basis. Final one on this page for me is capital expenditure at AUD 56.2 million for the half. Jules mentioned our focus on capital and cash discipline, that remains. We guided when we released the full year results to about AUD 140 million of capital for the full year. We haven't changed that number, but I do expect we'll come in a little below it, given the focus we have on it.
Last slide for me is on debt and available liquidity. I won't spend long on this slide, but the data in the table on the left-hand side, I've really referred to already as we've been working through the call. The data on the right-hand table just reflects the headroom we have under our various liquidity facilities. That said, we are going to carry out a different review of liquidity and off the back of Fredon, just to see what that structure should look like. My final comment, really, for those who have had an opportunity to read the accounts, is you will see in the subsequent events note that we did increase our debt capacity by about AUD 40 million through the establishment of an overdraft facility to help us manage the ebbs and flows of cashing out of the business.
I'll hand you back to Jules now for the exciting stuff.
Thanks, Pete. On the next slide, Slide 10, a slide you've seen many times before, which is our divisional splits between civil, mining, MET, and EMIT. My only comment on this really is that we're not really a true mining services business anymore. We are a services company, obviously with activities across mining services, but also public infrastructure, building, data, defense, et cetera. So we are a very, very diversified business these days. On the second slide, we just have a quick overview of the various segments. Obviously, all of them up on the right-hand side, very positively in an earnings sense. Mining was down slightly due to completion of some projects, which I'll talk about on the slide. So on to civil. Revenue increase of 6.3%.
Strong urban growth, and also the WA side of the business. A lot of work for Rio Tinto in terms of their sustaining, capital business. So three projects there, Brockman Syncline, Rio Tinto's Coastal Water Supply, and also West Angeles, which is, we've worked at for quite a period of time, but we've also awarded, Deposit Age, which is a new project for us there. The revenue in the core civil business in Queensland was flat compared to the PCP. Was also impacted by an underperforming contract. Productivity and rain was causing some issues on that job. We have fully priced that in into this half, the expected outcome, and it's due to complete very soon.
Had that not occurred, we would see margins at least where they were at the last half, second half, of the FY 2025 financial year or better. So as we've said previously, we see those margins continuing to trend up post all of the COVID and hyper-escalation sort of period to being stronger. So we'd expect that looking forward. Looking forward, huge amount of opportunity continuing, obviously, in the heartland that we've worked in for a long time in the Pilbara. Sustaining replacement, minor works, major works, a lot of very large pipeline of opportunities across all of the majors at the moment. In addition to that, we're seeing quite a bit in the infrastructure space.
Not as much, obviously, in Queensland yet, but certainly in WA, you know, freeway widening, Tonkin Grade Separator, a whole number of projects that are still coming to market, and this really excludes all of the tailwinds coming in defense, both in WA and South Australia, where I think there's a combined, you know, AUD 30 million tag for Henderson and another 35... It's a billion, sorry, another AUD 35 billion in South Australia. So I think activity is gonna remain very strong. When you think about the South Australian market, we've worked there previously at OZ Minerals, Olympic Dam. A lot of that workforce and equipment, the capability doesn't exist in South Australia, and would come from WA or from our East Coast business.
So very good opportunities, and as you can see from our order book, active tenders and pipeline is probably as strong as we've ever seen it, with significant tenders pending award. Onto mining. Great result. Back to that sort of 9% margin. You know, we've always sort of talked about a 9%-11% EBIT margin for this business. We're back at 9% after having a pretty difficult time last year due to the excessive rainfall that we had across those operations. So that's a real positive. Revenue a bit lower on PCP, purely because of the cessation of Mount Catlin job, Mount Webber, and also Isaac Downs were in that period, so run rate was high.
But we do expect a much stronger second half with acceleration of Castle Hill, and also the weighting of the South Walker Creek project coming in under the new contract model, which sort of started in January this year. So increase in volumes, and better performance expected in the second half. So the only other thing I'd call out is probably the award of the Meandu contract. Excellent contract for us to win. It's 100% client's equipment. So when you think about the mobilization transition phases happening this half, but it doesn't really impact us financially until FY 2027. So again, we're growing the business, growing the mining division with zero capital.
So when you, you know, kinda compare us to some of the comps, we are a, a very capital-light mining business compared to what you think a mining business looks like or a mining contracting business looks like. Again, in terms of, order book, as I said, outlook very positive. Order book strong at AUD 4.5 billion. There's a couple of projects, obviously, that you can see from the chart there that will be coming up due for extensions. Those conversations are happening now, between those two large, large, projects that we have in both Curra and Carrara. And then other than that, there's, there's a pretty big pipeline of opportunities of which we do have, capital available to, to support. So there wouldn't be a huge amount of additional capital required in the short term. Onto MET.
Exceptional performance from those guys on a PCP basis. You know, revenue, very strong, 30% increase on the PCP, and also the margin trended up very strongly as well. The combination of good performances from DIAB and RCR, and obviously a very strong performance in the revenue from Primero at Fimiston. Yeah, that project is completing sorta towards the end of this half. So again, if you think about pipeline outlook for this business, you know, very strong performances during the half and during the sort of the calendar year. A lot of active tenders in play at the moment, again, pending the award, plus a pipeline that's building currently AUD 3.8 billion, but activity levels are very high.
So we've got no concerns in terms of replacing the Fimiston revenues as we look forward to 2027, which may be a concern for some of the investors' comments in the past. So we're very comfortable where this business is at the moment in terms of the Met Group run rate, and bear in mind, you know, DIAB has maintenance and shutdown services that it does. So has RCR in terms of its product supply plus maintenance services. So there's a very large annuity business, good margin annuity business, that is embedded in our Met Group division. So it's not all about projects. Having said that, obviously, Fimiston has been a standout for us in terms of capability and size and scale, and very strong progress on Coastal Water Supply and Hope Downs 1 NPI as well for Rio Tinto.
The only other thing probably to call out on that slide is that we're commencing discussions with sort of global investment banks around next steps on generating value, commercializing our lithium processing technology, which we've been working on for a number of years now. We've just completed our third pilot plant, had various global majors through understanding our process and its value to the lithium processing industry in general. So that's something that we've kicked off. We haven't talked about it a huge amount in the past, but it's certainly something that can potentially give us a great outcome in the future. So on to EMIT.
Very happy with obviously the acquisition of the business, the people, some fantastic people in there, the management team and all the, the culture of the people, you know, fits in hand in glove with the NRW businesses. The integration of the 2,500 employees, the systems and, and, you know, management reports and all of the things that we look at, the financials, has gone very smoothly. And, you know, we really got some great outlook for that business as we look forward. What it delivered during the period, AUD 208 million of revenue, at an EBITDA of 4.6%. That was generally expected and communicated to the market through our due diligence phase.
We've won a bunch of data center contracts, but importantly, if you, if you look at that sort of last, well, the second last bullet point, you know, Fredon's has successfully completed delivery of Westmead Children's Hospital, Auckland Convention Center, Sydney Metro. You know, this is a business that is not just about data centers. So if the technology stocks go fluctuating wildly, it's not all about data centers. Yes, we're doing a lot of data centers at the moment, but this business has been around for a long time, and its strengths are across infrastructure, you know, hospitals, public venues, sporting stadiums, defense, and all of those areas have gonna have some huge tailwinds as we look forward at the moment.
So, you know, we expect a very strong growth outlook, complete, you know, coupled with a focus on achieving our internal target of a 6% EBIT margin, which, you know, if you compare it to our comps, should be absolutely manageable, and we'd look to improve that going forward. Order book, again, strong. Active tenders and pipeline continues to build, so really some very good opportunities that you'll get to hear about in the near future. So that leads me to our outlook and guidance. So continued strong growth will be delivered in FY 2027 and beyond, which is underpinned by our pipeline, currently sitting at AUD 25.2 billion, and those active tenders of AUD 9.2 billion. AUD 7.5 billion of work in hand, obviously, you've heard previously.
So just to reiterate, our 2026 guidance, our full year guidance at this stage is full year revenue increased by AUD 4.1 billion-AUD 4.2 billion from previously AUD 4.1 billion, and our underlying EBITDA is increased to between AUD 275 million-AUD 285 million, from AUD 260 million-AUD 265 million. Cash conversion consistent with long-term averages. Maybe we don't do 114% all the time, but, you know, the high eighties, high nineties is kinda where we're targeting. So, with that, I will open it up to questions. Thanks very much.
Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you would like to cancel your request, please press star two. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question today comes from William Park, from Citi. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Jules and Pete, for taking my question. Can I just ask about how things have sort of trended in the first 1.5 months of second half, and appreciate your comments around optimistic outlook, but just in terms of, you know, how things have tracked across each segment, and particularly with mining, whether if you've seen any sort of impact from rain in the first month or so of second half. Thank you.
Thanks, Will. Look, there has been a little bit of rain in January, but nothing, you know, out of the ordinary. I mean, you'd know that last year was an exceptional rain event and constant sort of rain that we experienced throughout the year, more than eight or nine months of the year. It's normal for us to have rain in January, you know, in that normal period where you'd expect it between December and sort of February, but it hasn't been anything excessive that we're concerned about. And it's dry as a bone out there at the moment, so...
And then just across your other segments as well, sort of step through, like the momentum?
No, I mean, look, you know, again, urban always gets a little whack with the rain when it's in Southeast Queensland, but that business continues to perform generally, rain or shine, because they recover the ops very quickly and generally don't have a lot of disruption. So, nothing here. WA, very little impact. The cyclone came across the coast, went across Carrara. I think we lost half a day or something. So yeah, certainly nothing that I'm concerned about. And, you know, touch wood, last year was the anomaly, and we're in a more normal pattern at this stage. But, you know, it doesn't mean that it can't happen between now and sort of, Easter time.
Well, the January consolidated result was where we wanted it to be. We're halfway through February, so I don't have numbers, but I'm not hearing anything, as Jules said, so everything's tracking as expected.
Thank you. Then can I just clarify your comments, Jules, around mining? Typically, as I understand it, this is first half skew, but are you suggesting that this year, because of the timing of project completions and so forth, you're expecting second half revenue for mining to be higher, half and half?
... It shouldn't ever be a first half skew. It kind of depends on what you're commencing and when you're commencing it. You know, we had South Walker Creek step up because we're running the client's gear plus our own gear, so that was always gonna step up under the new contract in terms of size of contract, and then also then the commercial model flips back to a production-based model rather than the hourly hire-based model, which it was before. So when it rained like buggery, we actually did the best on that job at South Walker Creek because compared to the other projects, because of the non-productivity aspect of it. Now, it's converted to our normal production, production style contract. It's performing very well because we're not having the rain impact.
So that's new versus the first half, and obviously the first half, as I just said before, we've Mount Catlin dropped out versus PCP, first half 2026 versus first half 2025. Mount Webber was completed. It's just run at the end of its course. And then also we had a little bit of Isaac Plains in there previously from Queensland. So second half now, as we say, FY 2026 into 2027, has growth from Mount Catlin, increasing its second big fleet, but also South Walker Creek, and obviously nothing else coming out. So you've got stuff coming in, things not coming out, and then when you hit 2027, you've got to add on Meandu as well, which is zero capital plus, you know, whatever it is, AUD 150 million a year of revenue or whatever the number is. Does that make sense?
Thank you. Yes. No, tha```nk you. That's very clear. And then just one last one from me. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is first time that you've ever sort of provided color around, I guess, the next fiscal year. Just wanted to, you know, so, so in comparison to prior years, could you give us some sense around revenue coverage for, you know, the next fiscal year at this point? You know, looking at sort of your pipeline, work in hand and at the tender balance, it looks to be quite full, but just, just wondering whether something's effectively changed in comparison to prior years. Clearly, your, your visibility does look good, but yeah, just curious to know what your revenue coverage sort of looks like versus your internal expectations for FY 2020.
Look, Will, I mean, you got to go, you, you got to think about the volatility that's been in the sector over the last few years, you know, COVID and post-COVID and, and those kind of. Which weren't really normal up until 2018, you know, from even the last kind of real downturn from 2017- 2019, we probably would have been giving forward-looking statements like that. But the business today is so different. You know, there's so much walk in the door, annuity, other things that we don't even announce because of the, because of the individual values. You know, if we get a variation on a contract with a large client who might not wanna say anything, it could be AUD 30 million to, you know, AUD 80 million, AUD 100 million, that, that comes in the door. So it's, you can't. Order book's one measure.
I think the submitted tenders is very important. You know, we haven't got preferred tenders in that, you know, split out of that, it's not in the order book, but we don't have that sort of split out of the preferred out of the submitted tenders or active tenders. So there's a whole bunch of numbers in there that some of which you see when we deliver the financial periods, but a lot of it you don't necessarily. So the confidence that we have going forward is really based on, you know, that growing pipeline, which is AUD 25.2 billion of projects, which is here right now and coming up within a 12-month period that we'll be bidding or commencing it.
So, you know, the activity levels are very strong, and obviously, you've got to remember that we've got different businesses now, including, you know, Fredon and EMIT. You've got parts, maintenance businesses that are kind of churning along, and then the project profile that we see across the iron ore majors, plus infrastructure is also building. So, you know, it's a very different business to worrying about, it's binary, about one big project turning up.
Thanks very much.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Darcy White, from Jarden. Please go ahead.
Hi, George and Peter. Thanks for taking my questions. First one, just on net performance. Could you break down how much of that improvement is leveraged to higher production, versus what's coming from customers? And just given where commodity prices are, how should we expect any incremental benefits as customers continue to ramp up into the second half, please?
Are you talking about MET specifically?
Yes, MET specifically.
Well, look, I mean, the RCR business is a products business mostly these days. It doesn't do major projects anymore. It used to do a bit of that, but it's mostly now products, and then the service and maintenance of those products. So that's, you know, become more of an annuity business. And, you know, that's obviously helping improve the overall margin. DIAB is more specialist, small projects, plus shutdown and maintenance as well. So it's doing shutdown and maintenance for FMG, and for others as well. So again, that becomes sort of not really an annuity business, but more so an annuity business. And then the, and then their projects are generally kind of smaller, sub-AUD 50 million size projects.
And then you've got Primero, which has, obviously a chunk of Fimiston in at the moment, at lower margins than most of the projects a bit at. So I don't know if that really explains the question properly. Pete, you wanna add anything?
No, I think the only bit of color I'd add, and I think when we talk about net, people automatically go to Primero.
Mm.
But the net business, when you roll in, as Jules said, RCR, DIAB, and OFI, Primero is kinda call it ballpark 50% of the EBIT that that division generates. It's not as heavy as I think most people think it is, and Jules has gone through those three businesses. So that's the only additional point I'd add.
Thanks, guys. That's great detail. Just on margins, mining performance looked pretty strong in the half. Can you just talk to what you're seeing in that segment now? How we should think about capacity from here, what you guys are seeing in terms of intensity, and just whether there are any key projects or contracts we should keep in mind for the second half that we should be aware of, please?
Look, two key things I called out on the slide are obviously the extensions that are sort of there at the moment, which is Curra and Carrara, which we've been obviously incumbents for quite a long period of time. Curra also has Curra North, which is Thiess and others. We're at Curra Main, so you know, there'll be—there's ongoing conversations at the moment to obviously extend that project. So those two are big sort of catalysts as you know, if you look at the business as usual number, our revenue or annuity number, that's important for us for looking forward. The bid activity is reasonable, but and building, obviously, through all the gold guys and others and, and even lithium people that are starting up again and need gear.
But winning Meandu is a great-- was a great opportunity for us. It doesn't use any capital. So we're being very disciplined, and unless we're getting the right returns, we're not interested. You know, we'd rather spend the money on Fredon, as you can see, and diversify the business or grow that business, and it-- there is no capital intensity. So we're being very, very disciplined around that. What we'll see is probably drill and blast is in the mix on a few contracts. They haven't had the best year this year. It's been a bit quieter for them, but I think into 2027, that'll pick up as well. So drill and blast, you know, which is quite a profitable part of that mining segment, will, will help as we look to sort of 2027, 2028.
But, you know, with the focus on capital from even the majors as well, there will be opportunities that come to contractors, assuming they have equipment. For us then, if we have the equipment, great. If we need to go and buy the equipment, it's very, very heavily scrutinized before we let anyone spend any money.
Thanks, guys.
Thank you. Once again, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Your next question comes from Evan Karatzas from UBS. Please go ahead.
All right, Jules and Pete, I'm getting this asked a lot. I think I know the answer, I'm just gonna ask it anyway. In the MET's results, obviously very strong, was there any profit release from Fimiston or anything else that could be seen as, I don't know, one-off year, not normal course of business or anything else like that?
No.
No.
No.
Okay. Yep, very clear. Then when we think about just the MET's earnings number, I mean, you're sort of in this mid-40s the last two halves. Do you want to maybe just speak on how you're thinking about the sustainability of this level of earnings for the rest of 2026 and then also into 2027 as well, please?
Look, I think as Pete said, you know, you've got... Well, and I said as well, the DIAB, the RCR business is sort of OFI, are kind of a part of that solution. And, you know, more projects that we bid with Primero at our usual margins would potentially improve it. So, you know, there is a very large revenue chunk related to Fimiston, but at a lower average margin across the business. So I think it just depends on the mix of that. But project-wise, there's a lot happening. So, you know, what, what Primero is involved in at the moment, you know, that momentum and that, that project pipeline is building. So there's some really good things that we're involved in. So I've no concern in, in that business, you know, growing, looking forward.
Yeah. Okay, good one. Good one. And just final one for me, just coming to Fredon. Can you just remind us of the margin expansion opportunity for Fredon there, getting to 6%? You know, why is it more depressed today, and what drives it to 6% over the short term? Anything you can point to there, and also, what's the definition of short term as well?
Short term? Well, for us, as the bosses, to the Fredon guys listening on the call, it's short term is soon. Does that help? Very soon. Look, I think some of the comps, you know, do produce different margins. These guys are very conscious of delivery, conservative in terms of their view around their projects, which is a good thing. You don't want them, you know, want them aggressive and things like that. They're a conservative delivery model. You know, there are no kind of commercial issues outstanding. They deliver exceptionally well, and they're conservative in the way they do it.
So I think that, you know, very early days, obviously, for us acquiring this business, and it's really about getting our sort of systems, processes, management, reporting, all that sort of stuff that we need to get our hands around. And now we then focus on. You know, they're very, they're very clear in their understanding of the focus on improving those margins, and I've no doubt they'll do so, within a short period of time, which could be, you know, in a half, it could be next, you know, first half 2027, but I think we'll start to see things improve pretty quickly.
Yeah. Okay, all right. So it's that combination of delivery and, and better scale, right?
Yeah, and I mean, just the number of projects that are coming as well. I mean, it's – if you think about what's out there, it's not just data centers. They do a lot of data centers, but it's their traditional business that they've been working in well, you know, whether it's hospitals, major projects, you know, convention centers or stadiums or, you know, airports or whatever else. There is a huge volume of work coming up, and they are a very, very capable organization. You know, one of the interesting stats on it, and they're probably the lowest turnover rate out of any of our businesses. You know, I think culturally, it's actually improved since the acquisition down to, like, 11% annualized turnover, which is the lowest you'd ever see anywhere for this kind of business.
It's really an exceptional outcome for us, and obviously, you know, we're very pleased to welcome all of those employees to our group.
Yeah, and, you know, they get to leverage a bit off group procurement contracts. And dare I say, they're not for sale, so they're now focused on growing their business, not answering due diligence questions.
Yeah.
Yeah. Good one. All right. Nice result, guys. I'll give someone else a turn. Thanks.
Thanks.
Thank you. Your next question comes from John Campbell, from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Okay, guys, yeah, good, great result, actually. Just, two questions from me, and it's sort of already been asked, but just around MET, and Fimiston, would it be right to think along the lines of, say, into FY 2027, that there'll be a couple of hundred million of revenues that need to be replaced, but presumably, you know, as you say, the pipeline's pretty good, but the margin impact probably is gonna be positive? Just a question of whether you can fully replace those lost revenues, yeah.
Yes, and yes, and yes, John. I think we, yeah, the replaced revenues is not that much of a focus because there is quite a lot of work around. The important thing for us is obviously just improving, you know, making sure that we maximize the overall margin. So whatever opportunities we get to do that, and, you know, there are a number of live bids that would certainly deal with that.
Yeah.
Our pipeline's pretty good and building, probably, would be the comment.
Yeah, and the margin performance, obviously, for the first half was really good. So it would seem that it would seem reasonable to assume margins be, you know, higher in 2027, almost certainly.
Yeah, again, it depends on the mix of the DIAB RCR-
Yeah
- and those sort of volumes. But, I mean, everything we've been doing with those businesses, you know, they had some challenges with RCR, with overheads reduction. You know, when we're trying to grow the parts and maintenance business, I think we've got a good handle on that now, and that's really the focus. You know, that's a very high margin, or higher margin business. But generally, you know, the NPI projects, the other projects, the feed studies, the engineering work that Primero does is also at a higher level. So it's just making sure that we balance the right, you know, projects in that sort of mix. But, what we're seeing at the moment, in an activity sense, is very positive, so.
Yeah. Okay. Thanks, thanks for that, Jules. And just on mining, again, you know, pretty, pretty solid margin performance. And your target, I think, around that, you know, the mining can be sort of in the tens, early, low ten, sorry, low double digit, potentially. But as you've, as you've sort of progressed and you're becoming less capital-intensive within that segment, is it, is it reasonable to assume that margins, like, if you can maintain margins as you're, as you're increasing the proportion of non, non-capital-intensive contracts, that would be a very, very good outcome?
Yeah, look, ultimately, if we get the opportunity to do that, because obviously not every project you can, and then it comes back to, are we willing to invest that level of CapEx in a project, you know, which lately we haven't. We haven't won a lot of big mining projects with our own equipment. You know, we just haven't—we've been focusing on other things. But yeah, I mean, Baralaba is a good example of that. Meandu is a good example of that. 100% client's equipment, and if we can keep the mining margin at a blended 9%, happy days.
Yeah.
It's not a bad, not a bad outcome. You see what we're spending in CapEx. I mean, I don't think I've seen that number that low for 10 years. I don't know. I mean, it's been a long time since we've looked at a number that low. We do have a focus on it, but we've just shut the gates on, on CapEx. You can't walk in the door and say, "I wanna go and buy this and buy that." No, you know? So to, to grow a mining business that is still competitive and isn't spitting out the right margins. So unless something changes there and you're making stupid margins, why would we go and buy the equipment and deploy that capital to, to that business?
Yeah. Yep. Thanks for that, Jules.
No worries. Thanks, John.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Nicholas Rollinson, from Morgans. Please go ahead.
Hi, Jules and Pete. Thanks for taking my questions, and congrats on a really strong result. Just on the MET segment, when you roll off the target cost estimate contract at Fimiston, I know it depends on mix a bit, but say the mix of Primero, RCR, Diab, and FI are all pretty much the same, what's sort of a sustainable margin for MET? Can you give us sort of a rough indication?
Look, where it is at the moment to... You know, when it was small, it was doing 8-10, and now it's- we've sort of said it should be better than, you know, I don't know, what we reported last half, slightly higher, but it was sort of one-off-
Yeah
... a bit, a bit extra from DIAB. I mean, in, in the kind of realms of where we are now, is not unreasonable. You know, a couple of things obviously come out of that. Just, it's just that mix of, mix of projects, and we've got some very good project teams. We obviously want to keep them busy. You know, we've really built probably the largest project of its kind in Australia, you know, very successfully, and we're bringing, you know, the Rio's, the BHP, everyone else up there to have a look at our capability, which is a real, you know, pat on the back for, for our capability as a group, which is probably not well enough understood. So as a result of that, we're starting to see a lot more interest and, and not only in construction, but also in feed studies.
Obviously, you know, the commodities in general are in a very positive environment.
Thanks, Jules. And then just a general one, like at the group level, the EBITDA guidance range has actually widened. You know, usually you'd be narrowing it at this time of year, I guess. Can you just explain what's driven the AUD 10 million delta?
Look, I mean, you know, we're not out of the complete wet season yet, if you wanna think about it like that, but the-
We put it up quite a bit.
Yeah, it did go up a bit.
I know. I know. I was just like, you know, you had 260-265. I was just wondering if there was like maybe a bit of contingency built in there for, I don't know, the outcomes of Primero, margin recognition there, like in terms of whether maybe you'd take a little bit of a hit or something like that. So, yeah-
No. Look, I don't think so, but you can work out what you think. The reason is, it's usually been that kinda 10 mil range. It was only... Yeah, obviously, we went to a slightly tighter range, but, you know, things have continued to be dry. Operations are performing well, so yeah.
Great. That's it for me. Thanks very much, guys.
Thanks, Andy.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Cameron Bell, from Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Good day, guys. Just that pipeline of projects in the next 12 months and your active tenders, those two numbers are just... Well, they're massive numbers. It's probably a difficult question to answer, and I won't hold you to it, but, like, that AUD 25 billion pipeline, roughly ballpark, how much of that would you expect to actually convert into eventual active tenders?
Good question. I mean, look, depending on who the customer is in that, in that mix as to, you know, some of it can be extensions. As an example, we're already there, and they're big numbers. As you can kinda work out from our mining slide, but there is other mining bids live. There's a lot of construction, and as I said, just before, we haven't split out the stuff that we're preferred on. You know, so there's a, there's another number of that preferred. So look, I mean, I'm not gonna give you a number, but it could be sizable.
No, I know. I thought I was pushing my luck. But I guess the other part of it, doing sort of, you know, reverse trickle-down pyramid of work, given how much work is out there and how your, you know, the competitive landscape is consolidated, do you think your win rate of tenders is heading higher?
Look, again, probably, I think, you know, if you need a particular capability and you need certainty of delivery, you know, we, we've been around a long time in our core businesses, and we have a very good reputation for delivery across, across those segments. So, you know, urban's kind of a no-brainer. Civil Pilbara, WA, kinda no-brainer, you know, and there's some, there's some decent stuff there, in terms of, you know, framework agreements and other things that are happening. Infrastructure, you know, the other interesting thing, probably to comment, which I haven't commented on, is, you know, made in WA or even made in Australia. If you think about our comps in a civil sense, you know, there, there are very little left. I think, you know, we're the only sizable one left in WA. Georgiou was taken out by the Austrian, Strabag.
That's a very important piece to decision-making in the public infrastructure space as well as a local content. Otherwise, they're Spanish, they're French, you know, one Queensland mob that's private, is doing a bit of work over here. So that becomes then a smaller tender field or a, you know, potentially, as long as you've got the capacity. So the key thing for us is making sure, you know, we're hiring key people ahead of those opportunities so we can deliver well. And that's what we're sort of focused on, whether it's from Queensland or WA. You know, Rio have got direct flights from Brisbane, as an example, so we don't need to bring people through Perth. So Brisbane's a bit quiet or Golding's a bit quiet, we can funnel people to the west and vice versa.
And then, potentially, we've got South Australia to deal with, where there's some opportunities that we're working on that are also, you know, obviously around Olympic Dam, but then AUKUS related as well. We're still in Whyalla. So, you know, lots of things are going on, and ultimately not a huge amount of choice.
Just for a bit of context, too, and we won't give you the names, but the top five jobs in that pipeline is AUD 6 billion in the top five jobs. There are some big jobs out there.
Yeah, okay. And then just the last question from me. You gave us that little breadcrumb in the METs slide. What does generate value mean, I guess, when you're talking about the lithium processing tech?
Well, look, we think we have developed a process, and we're patenting it, and we have the IP, which is now called ALLIE, for a much lower capital cost refining process, which doesn't use the same heat or acids or, you know, caustic chemicals to produce a lithium carbonate, battery-grade lithium carbonate. So, you know, when you think about that versus a Metso, which is a nearly EUR 20 billion company, we may have something that has some value there. However, we need to go through the motions and understand how to best do that, whether it's sell it, operate our own operation. Yeah, JV, license, all of those things, which ultimately we'd want to build, but this has a global significance in terms of, we think so.
Hence, it's a breadcrumb, in terms of what future value. Well, we don't really understand the future value. We know there's a lot going on, and if we can build something at half the price of a current lithium processing plant, which they don't really work here, you know, we might be onto something. If ALLIE may say that, you know, building doing it in Australia is twice the cost of China, well, maybe we can do it at the same cost as China, but in a different flow sheet and different process. But anyway, that's why it's a breadcrumb. We need to work on it.
Okay. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
No worries. Thanks, Cameron.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Matthew Chen from Moelis. Please go ahead.
Morning, guys. Just wondering, interested in your latest thoughts in capacity or geographies you wanna build on? Sounds like Fredon's going pretty well, so interested if you kinda wanna focus in that that more localized space. Yeah, thanks.
In terms of our geographical space?
No, in capacity. Yeah, in that sense, on that side.
Look, I mean, we're growing our workforce numbers. I think when we talked about the acquisition or not long after, we were 11.5. I think we're now 12,200 or 12,300 or something, not long after. So you know, the focus, as I said, and for Fredon, we've talked about this with investors as well, it should be a material growth uplift into 2027. Yeah, material growth uplift so... And that's really to support the projects that we see coming across, you know, a lot of the eastern states, but they're also very busy in WA. So it's been sort of Victoria, WA, Queensland in this sort of financial year. But as we look forward, you know, there's probably more in South Australia.
Victoria is still very busy, but then also coming back into New South Wales as well, and Queensland. So we're just positioning to make sure that, you know, A, we're either, you know, they follow their clients. Obviously, a lot of data centers still to build. Huge amount of capacity. Interesting, you know, the whole mass thing and where he hasn't built a huge project before, but he's tied up with firms. I mean-
Mm.
you know, we have that capability. We're doing, I don't know, AUD 300 million worth of data centers. So we're, we're right in there in terms of an electrical and a, and a cooling perspective through the HVAC business. So, you know, we're, we're focusing on how we can deliver the best outcomes for our business through, through the opportunities that are out there.
Thanks.
No worries.
Thank you. Once again, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Your next question comes from Mitchell Sonogan, from Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Hi, Julie. Hi, Pete. Thanks for taking the questions, and, yeah, congrats on a great result. Just a couple of quick ones. On the civil business, you just made that comment, and apologies you've been through this. I've been jumping between a few today. You've made the comment just about opportunities with defense in Western Australia and South Australia. Yeah, do you mind just talking to that in a little bit more detail? Are you at the point where you're looking at tenders? Over what timeframe would that potential work start to build? Thank you.
Yeah, good question on the timeframe. Not really, not really sure. We're certainly, you know, the defense business in WA is very closely aligned with the WA government as well. So it's not just purely run by defense, it's being run sort of collectively. We've just extended our lease at the Primero Henderson Yard and everything else to be ready to support all those activities. I think it may go to, because of the sensitivities around it, a couple of major contractors, and then we'll look to align our group's capability with one of those two major delivery partners, and these are, you know, massive construction guys that are well versed and trusted by defense. So that's kinda how that's probably gonna work in WA.
But then you've got South Australia going at the same time, and we're just looking at those opportunities at the moment in terms of teaming up with some of the majors to look at that. So, you know, we don't have a big capability in South Australia at the moment, but we have done, you know, quite a bit of work at Olympic Dam and airstrips and infrastructure. We did the road for Oz Minerals when they were building their original copper project out there and things as well. So we do have the experience there other than what we're doing at Whyalla. So that's a consideration subject to kinda how busy we get in WA, I suppose.
Even, even a bit left field on defense, we've even had some thoughts around RCR, 'cause RCR has got a big machine shop here.
Mm.
In the future, we might be making drive shafts for submarines, who knows? That's kind of very left field, but there's a lot happening.
Yeah. There are only one-
Yeah.
There are only one of two businesses in WA, the other one being Hofmann Engineering, that can do that type of machining, which actually was news to me until about a year ago. No, nine months ago, and they started talking about it. So that, that's... Yeah, yeah, future opportunities are very good.
Yep. All right, thanks, guys. Just a second little one, just on Fredon, AUD 1.7 billion of active tenders. Yeah, just wondering over what time frame would that work typically be delivered? Is it a 12- 24-month period? I guess just, yeah, whether it's historically or, or what's the historical win rate that they've typically achieved or arranged there. Thanks, guys. That's all for me.
No worries. Thanks. Well, I think they've got a very high strike rate in terms of their win rate, because a lot of it is with, yeah, long-term customers, and a lot of their business, you know, I think 70%, when we announced it, of their business is with long-term customers they've had for 20 years or more. So their win rate is very high. They get involved very early. So sometimes the timing of those awards can take time, depending on when the builder or whoever the head contractor is, it starts. But, you know, win rate's very high. And again, a lot of that we don't necessarily announce because of the value. So depending on, you know, materiality to the group, we kinda thought about, you know, announcing some of those little stuff.
But again, it takes time to get the announcements through their counterparts, their clients, and obviously the end client. And if it's defense, particularly, that's challenging because they don't necessarily want to talk about it. So that's,
They have interesting announcements.
Yeah.
We won something, that's all.
Yeah, we won something. We just don't know—we can't tell you. So I think that's, you know, it, it's a fantastic business. I said really, really good addition to the group.
Thank you. Once again, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Your next question comes from Peter Storer, a shareholder. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Hello, Jules and Peter. That's, that's an excellent result, a very happy shareholder. Could you just clarify where we are with the Whyalla situation, please, with the Golding recovering of the AUD 110 million? I realize there's a Note 3 in the accounts. It's quite complicated. Could you just summarize exactly where we're at in sort of plain English, please?
Hi, Peter. That's gonna be difficult because it is a complicated scenario. Look, we've tried and been scuppered at every opportunity to try and get money out of this process. You know, we tried to take ownership of the port, which we thought we had until the government changed the legislation to take it away from us. So that was obviously a challenge. We successfully wound up LPMA, which was Gupta's private company, which owns the shares in Tahmoor. Again, he put that into administration, and he since put Tahmoor into administration. But we're not giving up. We're not spending, you know, five hours of the day thinking about it, but we are still continuing to work on it.
Ultimately, where the situation is now, Tahmoor will end up being sold by either the administrator of LPMA, which owns the shares in Tahmoor, and that's, you know, it's a pretty valuable asset. You know, 2 million tons a year, reasonable quality coking coal, close to the coast. You know, if that sells, we get a very significant chunk of anything over a certain value, but we just gotta wait and see on it. So look, we don't give up. We got all our money back on Gascoigne, which turned into Spartan, should have held it a bit longer. But you know, that's just what it is.
We've had to deal with the pain and, you know, we're a very different position to where we were 12 months ago, when, you know, when the government stepped in.
Yep.
We're still on the mine. We're still working on the mine.
Yep. The reassurance was that we're not getting distracted, and it's not taking a huge amount of time trying to recover this money.
No, but as a shareholder, I absolutely, you know, value your thoughts on and all our shareholders. That's our money. We should have been paid for it. We're not here. We're not a bank.
Yeah, we-
We will do whatever we can to recover it, you know, until that moment comes, and hopefully we do get something back.
Okay, thanks.
No worries. Cheers.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr. Pemberton for any closing remarks.
Yeah, thanks again, everyone, for listening. A lot of good questions as well today, and look forward to seeing a lot of you when we're on the road next week. So thanks very much.
Thank you.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.