Standing by. Welcome to the Seven Group Holdings FY 2024 year-end results announcement. All participants are in a listen-only mode. There'll be a presentation followed by a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question via the phone, you will need to press the * key, followed by the number 1 on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Ryan Stokes, CEO and Managing Director. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the Seven Group Holdings full year results presentation for the year ended 30 June 2024. I'm Ryan Stokes, Managing Director and CEO. Joining me today is Richard Richards, Group CFO. Slide two. SGH is one of Australia's leading diversified operating groups with a market capitalization of over AUD 15 billion and inclusion in both the ASX 100 and MSCI Global Indices. We own and operate some of Australia's leading industrial services businesses and have exposure to transitional energy through the supply of natural gas and LNG. We focus the deployment of capital and investment in the Australian market and within three strategic growth thematics: mining production, infrastructure and construction, and transitional energy. Within these thematics, our businesses have scale, leadership, position, and privileged assets to provide a competitive advantage and economic moat.
Our approach to capital allocation is complemented by a disciplined operating model, emphasizing execution with accountability. Our owner's mindset approach guides our business decisions and performance of our leaders and people. It brings a strong belief in the power of continuous improvement and long-term value creation. Above all, we are committed to serving our customers. We deliver best-in-class products and services with our customers at the heart of everything we do. The execution of the strategy has underpinned the delivery of a strong and stable cash flows, top decile shareholder returns, and an 18% EBIT compound growth rate for over a decade. Slide three. Strong customer activity in FY 2024 supported SGH to deliver revenue growth of 10% to AUD 10.6 billion.
The revenue growth was supported through increasing operating leverage, resulting in EBITDA of AUD 1.9 billion and EBIT of AUD 1.4 billion, up 14% and 20% respectively. Group NPAT of AUD 850 million was up 30%. Operating cash flows of AUD 808 million was down 32% as a result of a more than AUD 500 million working capital investment at WesTrac. The investment was predominantly in parts and machines required to meet the strong customer demand and support growth into FY 2025. Slide 4. Significant earnings growth at WesTrac and Boral were the core drivers of the FY 2024 result, delivering 25% and 61% EBIT growth, respectively. Coates also delivered robust EBIT growth of 9%. In aggregate, these businesses delivered EBIT of AUD 1.3 billion, up 28%, and represent over 90% of SGH earnings.
The equity accounting contributions to EBIT of our energy and media businesses fell by 13% and 58%, respectively. Key outcomes over the past year include the completion of our compulsory acquisition of Boral on July 4, with post-acquisition leverage peaking at 2.26x. A focus on operating leverage supported an expansion in group EBIT margin to 13.4%, up 106 basis points, return on equity of 20.8%, up 406 basis points, and delivering total shareholder returns of 56%. Slide 5. Key financial results for the year included 10% growth in revenue to AUD 10.6 billion, 14% growth in EBITDA to AUD 1.9 billion, and 20% growth in EBIT to AUD 1.4 billion, and 30% growth in NPAT to AUD 850 million.
Statutory NPAT of AUD 464 million was down 23%, primarily due to SGH's share development and exploration asset impairments at Beach Energy and a mark-to-market impairment of Seven West Media. Net debt to EBITDA finished the year at 2.2 times and under 2.3 times at the completion of the Boral transaction in July. The final ordinary dividend of AUD 0.30 per share, declared in July, brings total dividends for the year to AUD 0.53 per share, fully franked. Slide 6. The strong FY 2024 results and our long-term outperformance is supported by our purpose, objectives, and values, and the disciplined application of our operating model. Our purpose is to recognize and serve exceptional businesses while meeting our objective to maximize return to stakeholders through long-term sustainable value creation. We support this objective with our four values: respect, owner's mindset, courage, and agility.
The owner's mindset is seminal for SGH. It emphasizes accountability and execution. The operating model has 4 core characteristics. First, each of our businesses has a dedicated board structure, ensuring accountability for delivering results. Second, decision-making is pushed toward the front line wherever possible, fostering a lean, empowered workforce with accountability at all levels. Third, we focus on execution and growth, integrating the owner's mindset into our operating cadence. And fourth, our lean operating structure focus on accountability make SGH inherently scalable. Slide 7. The 20% EBIT growth in FY 2024 and 18% EBIT CAGR over a decade highlight SGH's long-term superior outperformance. This performance has been supported by our operating model and underpinned by disciplined investment into the strategic growth sectors of mining production, infrastructure and construction, and transitional energy.
In mining production, Australian commodity export volumes were up 4% for the year, with strong expectations for iron ore and thermal coal exports through this decade. In infrastructure and construction, the project pipeline is robust and replenishing, with AUD 1.7 trillion in investment expected over the next seven years. The sector is also supported by macro and policy thematics, such as the 240,000 new dwellings required annually to meet government policy ambitions. In transitional energy, gas will play an increasingly critical role in supporting the grid. The greater the reliance on variable renewable energy, the greater the requirements for firming energy, and gas is best positioned to provide this firming solution. Strong demand and tightening supply are expected into the domestic gas market from FY 2026 onwards. The global LNG market is also finally balanced, with supply risk skewed to the downside. Slide 8.
In addition to the strong financial results, we made significant progress across safety and sustainability in FY 2024. With circa 14,000 employees across SGH's companies and interests, the safety of our people is one of our most important priorities. We are focused on delivering differentiated customer experience, and safety is an important component of the value we provide. Our LTIFR of 1.4 and TRIFR of 4.5 both improved by 26% over the year, driven by visible leadership, a culture of collective accountability, and rigorous work health and safety compliance and risk management. In relation to sustainability, we recognize the meaningful impact and long-term value our businesses can contribute, with core components of our industrial services portfolio inherently circular. This includes machine rebuilds at WesTrac, recycling at Boral, and equipment hire at Coates.
We are excited to bring the first Cat battery electric mining truck into our territories this year, where we'll participate in in-field trials with BHP and Rio in the Pilbara. We're also continuing to increase alternative fuel use at Boral, with the completion of the Berrima Chlorine Bypass Project, which facilitated an increase in the facility's alternative fuel usage to 28%. Our solar rollout program and associated EV pilots are ongoing at Coates, with 26 branches now equipped with solar. Slide 10. WesTrac delivered strong sales growth in FY 2024, with capital sales up 12%, driven by customer demand from expansion activities and fleet replacements. Services sales grew by 23%, supported by a 5% increase in parts line item volumes, an 11% increase in parts exchange components, and overall favorable shift in product mix.
Combined, this led to 19% higher sales revenue for the year, significantly ahead of the 10-year revenue CAGR of 12%. The strength in both capital sales and services is expected to continue into FY 2025. A positive capital sales outlook is underpinned by the committed resource project pipeline and strong demand from fleet rebuilds and replacement, which we see as mid-cycle. Growth expectations for services are supported by the mining production outlook and increasing installed base of machines and aging fleets. Customers are increasingly making use of more sophisticated maintenance regimes to extend fleet lives. Slide 11. WesTrac's revenue of AUD 5.8 billion was up 19% for the year, combined with EBIT margin expansion of 10.7%. The business delivered 25% higher EBIT of AUD 623 million.
Strong customer activity and demand led to more than AUD 500 million investment in working capital in FY 2024. This impacted operating cash flow of AUD 164 million, down AUD 515 million for the year. This investment was in parts and machines and highlights the growing customer demand for services and equipment. This reflects one of the strongest capital sales pipelines for the business in over a decade. WesTrac is investing in its people, productivity, and capacity to support customers and growth. The workforce expanded by 4% in FY 2024, supported by training, investment, and recruitment initiatives. WesTrac is also leveraging advanced analytics solutions to drive productivity, while investing in facility expansions and upgrades to support increased customer activity.
These investments in working capital, people, technology, and capacity provide WesTrac with a strong foundation to serve growing customer demand and deliver growth in FY 25 and beyond. Slide 13. Boral sales volume were resilient in FY 24, with strong customer activity in the infrastructure and construction sector. Project delays, coupled with a temporary moderation in residential activity, saw total sales volume contract slightly year-on-year, but remain strong. An improved go-to-market strategy enabled pricing traction across all products, offsetting volume pressures and inflationary impacts on costs. Boral made significant progress on its good-to-great performance journey in FY 24, delivering improvements in procurement through hag site reduction, recycling, and cost-based rationalization. In FY 25, the business will focus on disciplined execution, cost control, price leadership, and operational efficiency, and go-to-market agility to maintain positive momentum on the performance journey. Slide 14.
Boral delivered strong FY 2024 financial results, with revenue increasing by 3% to AUD 3.6 billion, and EBITDA growth of 32% to AUD 599 million. EBIT margin expanded to 10.5%, leading to a 61% increase in EBIT to AUD 372 million. Boral is now achieving our double-digit EBIT margin objective, and we believe there is more that can be delivered. EBITDA cash conversion of 104% was up 15%. Boral will continue investing to strengthen its core operations in FY 2025, with a focus on extending quarry lives and enhancing the heavy mobile equipment fleet to improve operational efficiency. We're also pursuing adjacent growth opportunities in recycling and surplus property, including a partnership with Logos to co-develop the Deer Park property in Viktoria. Slide 16.
Customer activity remained robust at Coates in FY 2024, particularly in the west and north regions. An industry-wide skilled labor shortage of up to 240,000 FTE continues to impact project delivery, causing commencement delays. This is expected to defer, not reduce the opportunity. Coates' focus on driving operational leverage and efficiency was critical delivering earnings growth. In FY 2024, operational efficiency gains were largely driven by the continued rollout of the hub and spoke branch model, technology-driven transport, customer service improvements, and targeted non-operational headcount reductions and cost initiatives. These efficiency and productivity gains position Coates to better serve customers and capitalize on what are expected to be positive market dynamics into FY 2025. Slide 17. Coates' total revenue of AUD 1.1 billion was relatively flat in FY 2024.
Higher revenue was up 1.5%, with strong customer activity in WA and Queensland, highlighting the advantage of Coates' nationwide footprint and diversified end markets. Operational efficiency gains and focus on cost control delivered EBITDA margin expansion to 46.2% and EBIT margin expansion to 28.6%. This represents the 8th consecutive year of margin expansion at Coates and resulted in a 9% increase in EBIT to AUD 327 million. Time utilization remains within the best practice target range at 60% for the year, down 2% on growth in the hire fleet. Operating cash flow of AUD 505 million was up 6%, with EBITDA cash conversion of 96% consistent with FY 2023. We continued to invest to support customers and our growth ambitions in FY 2024.
This included expanding the hire fleet by AUD 83 million to AUD 1.9 billion on an original cost basis. The fleet growth was supported by M&A, including the AUD 40 million acquisition of GTH in New South Wales. Slide 19. Beach Energy showed signs of earnings and operational momentum in Q4 FY 2024, with quarter-on-quarter production and revenue increasing by 6% and 10% respectively. We welcome Brett Woods as Beach's new MD and CEO, and we'll continue to support him through SGH's chair and board representation to deliver an ongoing strategic refresh with key targets, including a 30% reduction in headcount, with 26% delivered to date, and 30% improvement in infield operating expenses to below $11 per barrel of oil equivalent by FY 2026.
In FY 2025, Beach will focus on project delivery, maintaining cost discipline, and executing its refreshed strategy to deliver shareholder value. At SGH Energy, construction of the Crux LNG backfill project is ongoing, with the first cargo of LNG expected in CY 2027. SGH's share of Crux development capital in FY 2024 was AUD 147 million. Resource volumes at the Longtom Gas Field were independently verified in FY 2024, and an MOU has been signed with Cooper Energy to explore infrastructure access for Longtom production. Slide 21. Seven West delivered FY 2024 revenue of AUD 1.4 billion and EBITDA of AUD 187 million, down 5% and 33% respectively. The result was impacted by weakness in the television advertising market and cost growth.
Seven West completed an organizational restructure towards the end of FY 25, including the implementation of a cost-out program and a redefined operating model to drive improved performance across the business. The restructure comes with a refined purpose to build a better digital media business that delivers sustainable and growing earnings and cash flow. SGH's other media interests recorded an EBIT loss of AUD 6.5 million, largely reflecting a AUD 7.8 million dollar loss on CMC. Our investment in CMC has delivered an IRR of over 20% through the life of the investment. I'm going to hand you over to Richard to take you through SGH's FY 24 financials.
Thank you, Ryan, and good morning. SGH delivered on upgraded guidance with underlying EBIT up 20%. Revenue rose 10% to AUD 10.6 billion, driven by strong customer activity in industrial services, particularly WesTrac, with modest growth in Boral and Coates. Expenses, excluding depreciation amortization, increased 8.5% to AUD 8.9 billion, predominantly due to the 20% increase in COGS at WesTrac, required to deliver their 19% sales growth. Cost management across SGH enabled margin expansion. EBITDA increased 14% to AUD 1.9 billion, while NPAT rose just 2% to AUD 511 million, highlighting disciplined capital reinvestment. This delivered Underlying EBIT up 20% to AUD 1.4 billion. Net finance expense of AUD 294 million was 4% higher, reflecting higher debt associated with the Boral acquisition, partially offset by higher interest on cash deposits.
Underlying NPAT rose 30% to AUD 914 million, while statutory NPAT decreased to AUD 522 million, with the difference largely referable to significant item losses from our equity accounted investments. Moving to slide 24. SGH's statutory results include AUD 360 million in pre-tax significant items. This comprises AUD 245 million, being our share of Beach impairment of E&P assets, and AUD 134 million due to the impairment of SWM. Other pre-tax significant items provide a net benefit of AUD 20 million, including gains from the sale of Sykes and Coates Indonesia of AUD 76 million, partially offset by Coates redundancy costs of AUD 7 million, Boral direct transaction costs of AUD 14 million, and SGH realized property gains of AUD 5 million.
After accounting for AUD 9 million in significant items related to net finance expense and a tax expense of AUD 32 million on these items, the total significant item expense was AUD 392 million after tax. Moving to slide 25. This slide presents an earnings bridge detailing underlying EBIT for each business unit and a reconciliation to statutory EBIT. WesTrac's EBIT increased to AUD 123 million. Revenue growth was supported by strong customer demand for new machines, parts, and components. The 0.5% margin expansion reflects disciplined cost control and operational efficiencies. Boral's EBIT grew by AUD 140 million. This was achieved through a 3% revenue growth, driven by an improved go-to-market strategy that embedded price traction and improved cost control, delivering 3.8% margin expansion to 10.5%.
Adjusted for the sale of Coates Indonesia, Coates delivered 1% revenue growth. Accordingly, the AUD 27 million EBIT growth reflects margin expansion, delivering EBIT margin of 28.6%, up 234 basis points on cost management, enabled by delivery of its hub-and-spoke branch model. Earnings from our energy segment declined AUD 15 million, largely reflecting SGH's share of Beach's AUD 44 million NPAT decline. Media's contribution to SGH EBIT decreased by AUD 36 million. In aggregate, disciplined execution across our industrial services businesses delivered AUD 233 million increase in underlying EBIT to AUD 1.4 billion, or AUD 1.1 billion in statutory EBIT, after accounting for the AUD 351 million of significant items. Slide 26.
Underlying operating cash flow of AUD 1.3 billion was down AUD 259 million, largely reflecting the AUD 500 million investment in working capital at WesTrac, split evenly into machines, parts, and PEX inventory. This investment was necessary to meet growing customer demand and support the operations and growth in FY 2025. The increase in working capital was partially offset by strong customer receipts across other industrial services businesses. EBITDA cash conversion at Boral and Coates remained strong at 104% and 96% respectively, while WesTrac contracted to 28%. Combined, these businesses delivered 68% EBITDA cash conversion, down from 27% from the prior year. Net interest was flat at AUD 255 million, with a AUD 14 million increase in financing costs, offset by eighteen million increase in interest on cash deposits at Boral.
Net income tax rose by AUD 152 million to AUD 236 million, reflecting SGH's improved earnings and Boral's return to a tax-paying position. Net investing cash outflows were AUD 468 million, reflecting higher PP&E expenditures, offset by the sale of the Sykes business for AUD 101 million and Coates Indonesia for AUD 64 million. Net capital increased by AUD 25 million to AUD 488 million, mainly due to higher fleet investments at Coates, partially offset by reduced expenditure at WesTrac, following the completion of facility expansions. Payments for production and development assets totaled AUD 147 million, driven by drilling and fabrication activities in the Crux joint venture, and net financing cash outflows was AUD 563 million for the year.
This was primarily due to the AUD 607 million paid to acquire non-controlling interest in Boral, AUD 168 million in SGH ordinary dividends paid, and AUD 68 million in dividends paid to Boral minority shareholders, partially offset by AUD 440 million in net proceeds from borrowings to support the Boral takeover. Closing net debt increased by AUD 316 million to AUD 4.3 billion, driven by the working capital investment at WesTrac and additional debt associated with Boral transaction, partially offset by strong operating cash flows at Boral and Coates. Moving to Slide 27. SGH's net assets decreased by AUD 497 million to AUD 4.1 billion in FY 2024, primarily due to the technical liabilities from the Boral transaction and impaired equity accounted investment values, partially offset by higher net working capital.
The increase in trade and other payables largely reflects the AUD 335 million technical liability related to SGH's obligation to compulsorily acquire the remaining 5.1% of Boral shares outstanding at June 30. The AUD 247 million scrip component of this liability was unwound following the completion of the acquisition on the fourth of July. The AUD 405 million decline in investments reflects the mark to market of SGH investment in SWM and our share of Beach's impairments of PP&E assets over the year. The higher net working capital was primarily due to a AUD 490 million increase in inventory, predominantly associated with WesTrac, offset by AUD 94 million increase in payables, excluding the Boral transaction liability, and a AUD 135 million lower receivables.
These movements resulted in net debt of AUD 4.6 billion or AUD 4.3 billion, excluding leases, representing an 8% increase over the prior year. Moving to Slide 28. After adjusting for the AUD 71 million positive mark to market on debt-related derivatives, SGH's adjusted net debt to EBITDA, or leverage excluding leases, contracted 3% to 2.2 times. SGH's leverage has subsequently peaked post concluding the Boral transaction to 2.26 times in early July, and we expect to reduce this naturally through strong operating cash flows in FY 2025. SGH entered into a 12-month, AUD 700 million bridge facility to support the Boral acquisition, which was drawn in May and fully repaid in July.
In addition to refinancing the AUD 578 million tranche of the SFA in the first half, SGH finalized the AUD 600 million Asian Term Loan tranche, attracting strong credit support from new lenders for SGH credit and core thematic exposures, and was three times oversubscribed. This six-year tranche priced inside our existing tranches and funded in July. The ATL proceeds were used to fully repay the bridge. The SFA now provides a limit of AUD 2.5 billion, with no significant corporate maturities until FY 2028. WesTrac also completed a $410 million USPP in January, which was also over three times oversubscribed, demonstrating market confidence in our financial position and our capital management strategy. This positions SGH with long-term debt within the operating businesses, matching the long-dated nature of their assets and a revolving corporate syndicated facility to support working capital and other investments.
SGH simplified its capital structure over the year, settling the AUD 366 million equity swap, the AUD 250 million exchangeable, and the majority of the AUD 46 million convertible. The Boral NCI was also eliminated post-acquisition in July. At 30th June, 48% of SGH debt was fixed at an average rate of 4.8% and an average duration of 6.3 years. Our all-in funding cost stands at 5.7%, with a weighted average maturity of 4.1 years, which increases to 4.6 years after drawing the ATL and repaying the bridge. We'll now hand you back to Ryan.
Thank you, Richard. On to slide 30. The delivery of the Boral transaction was a key outcome for the year. Boral is the closest strategic fit for SGH and is strongly aligned with our capital allocation principles and operating model. Boral phases into the infrastructure and construction pipeline and is now Australian focused, where SGH has a proven ability to drive performance. The business' market leadership and improving cost discipline, which has highlighted significant FY 2024 earnings growth. It also has privileged assets that provide a competitive advantage, such as its quarry and concrete batch plant network. Boral's rapid performance improvement and move to a net cash position during the year drove the timing of the transaction. Importantly, owning 100% of Boral provides SGH access to strong cash flow generation, which can be deployed to the most accretive opportunities.
Slide 31. Looking to FY 25, SGH will drive performance outcomes across our businesses through maintaining strict operating and cost discipline and integrating Boral to support its good to great performance journey. SGH will also continue to invest to strengthen our core and support growth and capacity while driving operational efficiencies and margin. At WesTrac, that investment will focus on service capacity and working capital as required to support customer activity and growth. Boral will invest in heavy mobile equipment and the quarry network to improve operational efficiencies, strengthen the upstream network, and extend asset life. It will also continue to develop growth adjacencies in recycling and surplus property. Coates will explore additional programmatic M&A to increase market share and grow the hire fleet.
The disciplined execution of the operating model, combined with these investments, provide a strong platform for SGH to continue to deliver earnings growth, stable and growing dividends, and superior TSR for shareholders in FY 2025 and beyond. Slide 32. The positive outlook for our core sector exposures, adjacent growth opportunities, and FY 2024 investment in working capital supports group earnings guidance of high single digit EBIT growth expected in FY 2025. Strong demand for services, combined with inventory investment and one of the strongest capital sales pipeline in over a decade, supports a growth outlook for WesTrac. At Boral and Coates, both businesses are well placed to leverage productivity gains from FY 2024, supported by a robust infrastructure and construction pipeline. Beach Energy's refresh strategy and Waitsia contingent production guidance of 17.5-21.5 million BOEs underpins a positive outlook.
We look forward to effectively capturing these opportunities to deliver for our customers and shareholders in FY 25. Thank you for your interest and continued support. I'll now take questions.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset before asking your question. Your first question comes from Nathan Riley with UBS. Please go ahead.
Morning, gents. Two questions from me. The first one, just in relation to the growth outlook, which you provided for both Boral and Coates. Ryan, talking to, I guess, the productivity gains, which you're looking to balance against the underlying demand and activity. Just want to talk us through your assumptions around both those factors, please?
Sure. So both, Boral and Coates will continue the, the, work on, that, operating leverage and efficiency gains. We do expect, you know, market conditions to provide, you know, broadly favorable outlook in, in sectors. And I think it's, it's, you know, worth, stepping into a, you know, the, the, the geographic kind of breakdown of that. So there, there has been strong growth in, in regions we call out West and North, and I think we're starting to see that activity start to step up, in, in East. You know, South remains a broader question, from a Coates perspective, but overall, we do, see the breadth of that network providing a basis for opportunity.
But, our focus is on how we continue to unlock, you know, further efficiency through the Coates network and where it makes sense, looking at certain programmatic M&A. But I just preface the guidance is not conditional on that. It's on the organic steps. In relation to Boral, you know, we see, you know, the outlook, you know, broadly positive from a dynamic when we couple the, you know, focus on pricing discipline and just overall activity. So, you know, both factors, you know, I think, we see, you know, positive market dynamics playing through, with a continuation of operating leverage.
And that's probably getting more pronounced with Boral, 'cause we definitely see that EBIT margin target stepping up from that, you know, low teens to further high to higher. So that's definitely gonna be an opportunity in FY 25.
Got it. Thank you. And my second question, maybe one for Richard. You flagged the strong operating cash flow conversion that you're targeting for 25. Do you have a leverage target that you're expecting to achieve by the end of FY 25?
Look, we'd certainly see it. It's peaked at 2.26, Nathan, and we would see it coming down to something close to 2.1. And that's as assuming no other major transactions. But the strong operating cash flow that was delivered from the business, you know, despite the you know, AUD 537 million of investment in working capital WesTrac, we would certainly expect to pull some of that that WesTrac working cap back this year, and that will support continued deleverage of the group.
Thanks. And just final question, now that you mentioned it, just in relation to that WesTrac working capital investment, can you give us a, like a sense of what the mix of parts versus machinery is in that AUD 500 million investment?
Look, it's probably about, you know, just a rough rule of thumb, about a third of that parts and two thirds of machines, just, just rough kind of number. I mean, if you look at the growth in parts revenue and assume, you know, where we target from a turn rate perspective, we're definitely seeing that overall inventory need to step up to meet that customer demand, and coupled with what we're seeing as further, you know, demand growth perspective, end of the year. So that's probably a broad mix in that working cap.
That's great. Thanks for taking my questions.
All right. Thanks, Nathan.
The next question comes from Joseph House with Bell Potter Securities. Please go ahead.
Morning, Ryan and Richard. Thanks for taking my questions. Firstly, your effective tax rate in FY 2024 was 18.8%. Typically, your effective tax rate has hovered around that 20%-22% mark in the past. Could you explain what drove this lower tax rate, and should we be expecting higher tax rates in the near term?
Thanks, Joseph. It's an interesting one. I think what you'll find is the way that we've segregated the effective tax rate. You've got about AUD 249 million as if group underlying effective tax rate for the year, and that's if you then think of the differential is about AUD 32 million on the significant items, which gives you about AUD 211 million relating to underlying. The difference is the proportion of earnings sitting at a group level at an underlying basis for the equity accounted investments, which we recognize on a post-tax basis, is actually higher. The other element is we received AUD 200 million of fully franked dividends from Boral during the year.
We recognized some tax losses, both revenue and capital, during the year, just given the nature of the transactions we completed and, and in fact, Boral as well. So that being the case, we would expect the growth in the, the proportion of earnings referable to our industrial services businesses to actually increase year-on-year, which in that sense, we would expect the prevailing corporate tax rate of... that most corporates would have around 30%. We, we think we'll probably be doing somewhere in the order of 26%-27% next year, all other things being equal.
Excellent. That's really clear. Thank you. And just at Boral, how should we think about margins heading into FY 25? It seems the 10%+ EBIT margin might be the new norm. You know, what initiatives will be in focus in FY 25 to mitigate cost growth? And is it too early to assume we might see some benefits flowing through from your multi-year CapEx program at your quarries and for your heavy mobile equipment fleet?
Yeah, that's a good question across those broad initiatives of Boral. If I try and pick a couple of those questions in relation to the EBIT margin result, I mean, it's been a fantastic result and credit to the team. I think Vik and his team have driven a huge amount of change and performance in a short period of time. But our vision, if you go back to our presentation material probably three years ago, we called out that target as an ambition, and certainly it's really pleasing to get the business to that. We do see potential beyond that margin. And what gives us confidence is, I think the Australian...
Construction materials sector is a really robust sector. And compared, if we look at our global peers, and the EBIT margins they are delivering, it does highlight that, you know, heading towards a mid-teen margin is something which is achievable. We're not gonna get there, you know, quickly, but fundamentally, that starts to become, you know, closer to the, the ambition, if you like. So that is definitely gonna be a focus for us. So we do see more opportunity there. We aren't complete in that performance journey, and I think, you know, Vik could be first to admit there's more we need to do. Certainly that notion of cost control, price leadership, operational efficiency, that go to market agility will all be part of that.
So that's gonna be a key component. In relation to the question on HME investment and extending quarry life, I'd say the quarry life isn't really gonna show an earnings benefit short term. Long term, yes, and in our view, we probably... Well, the company's probably underinvested in that area, we're gonna be making investments to ensure we that quarry life. That's gonna be an underpinning of future growth, and the way we think through that is, you know, we look at that growth over the long term. So definitely gonna be an important investment. And some of that won't necessarily be pure capital investment, it'll just be through how we extend, you know, through leases, you know, government kind of leases, approvals, et cetera.
But on the HME, we do think that will generate a, an improvement in, or reduction in, in operating costs and R&M, et cetera, over time, so as well as operating efficiency. So some benefit will play through in, in that investment, in an earnings context. So the performance journey is a very, complex, series of work on a number of different fronts. We need to execute effectively, and there's still that performance uplift we expect. So, part of that growth dynamic for FY 25 will be, you know, further delivery on that performance journey.
Understood. And just lastly, at WesTrac, are you experiencing any supply shortfalls, for large diesel engines, just given the growth in data center construction around the world? And if you are, you know, is that likely to impact, any rebuild opportunities in FY 25 and beyond?
That's a fascinating question because if you were asking that in February, we would highlight that as a fundamental issue we have to manage. I think we probably did highlight the large engine aspect. I'd say, you know, I mean, for Caterpillar, it's been a very concerted effort over the last 12 months to address the supply aspect, given there's been a step up in demand, both on the rebuild aspect as well as that new engine demand. And you're exactly right, data centers are a massive demand for new engines. They've worked to improve that supply chain, so I'd say as we complete the year, you know, we've seen a big step up in that supply.
Part of that working cap build up has been a growth in parts inventory, and a lot of that's gonna play into that large engine attribute. So we've seen that improve. It's probably... It's still a factor we need to manage, but less of a factor today. I'd say just given the work that Cat's done on supply chain, we're starting to see it ease, if you like, that pressure point ease. So overall, we don't envisage that will be a constraint for growth in FY 25.
Excellent. That's all from me. Thanks for taking my questions.
Thanks.
The next question comes from Julian Mulcahy with E&P. Please go ahead.
Ryan, I'm just interested in how you sort of see the year playing out? Because you had revenue for both Boral and Coates fell in the second half, and consistent with your comments about an air pocket, you know, recently in the press. So should, should we kind of expect that revenue will be down first half before that rebound in the second half for both of those businesses?
No, I mean, firstly, I mean, I think just probably worth putting some context around that, that notion. We're, you know, the outlook in demand is positive. We don't – we see ability to step through that. We don't see a play through in that volume. If there is any air pocket, I don't want to use that term, we've been living through it the last six months. Reality is, what we emphasize is what we see in demand, we expect to play through. We probably see, you know, further growth in calendar 2025 as that step up in residential dwelling supplies has to play through from an overall supply perspective. But we're expecting demand to remain relatively stable through the year.
We're not seeing a massive fluctuation, but we are probably more confident that that will start to bolster into half two, as we see activity, you know, stepping up. But that overall, it's not a material factor from a half and half dynamic. We do see, you know, being relatively, you know, consistent. It probably it's... You know, looking through the result, you know, the elements on a half-and-half basis, I mean, WesTrac had a stellar first half. We probably, you know, see that that probably moderate to some degree as we've seen in the second half, but fundamentally, overall demand, we're anticipating to be broadly, you know, consistent through the financial year.
Right. And in terms of like, you know, the movement on costs, I mean, because you, you did very well on costs in both Boral and Coates in the second half, so offset that revenue decline. So is there a... Have you got a lot more room to move on costs, if it is a bit slower initially?
Look, I'd say it's a constant focus, and, you know, a firm belief in now that we need to continue to look at what we can do to improve our business, and where—what we can do is be more targeted from a region basis. So if we're seeing, and we are, you know, we're acting on that at the moment. So if from a cost perspective, that southern market is slower than we expect, we can reallocate gear and resources to actually move them.
So it's one of the strengths of the Coates model, is that ability to reposition, so if demand is stronger in Queensland, you know, we can actually reallocate and reorientate the business towards that. That and that's playing through at the moment. So I'd say, yeah, in short, the answer is yes, there's more we can do, and the more we need to do, and more that Boral has it under its plan to deliver on its potential, and more that the Coates will do in response to where there's opportunities, where we need to deploy more gear, and where we can come pull gear from it and overall, you know, labor resources as well.
So I think that that's a constant focus for us, and we do think that there's more that we need to push on to, you know, for both businesses.
Right. And just finally, in your guidance, normally in the past, you've had a growth rate for the industrial as opposed to the group as well, and you haven't done it this time. Is it fair to say that WesTrac will be the major driver of the growth this year?
Probably, yeah, that's a really interesting question. On a dollar basis, maybe. I mean, Boral is gonna be pretty strong on a percentage basis as well. But if you look at the group today, 90% of the earnings are oriented towards industrial services. We figured the group guidance was probably sufficient, and deals with, you know, what may play through more broadly. And as I sit here today, we are, you know, confident in that outlook and our ability to deliver to what we see is, you know, a pretty robust demand dynamic.
So overall, I think that both WesTrac and Boral have a pretty strong opportunity set in front of them, and Coates is gonna have similar growth, a growth opportunity, but not quite the same percentage.
Cool. Thanks, Ryan.
Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press * one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Your next question comes from Simon Thackray with Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Thanks very much. Good morning, Ryan. Good morning, Richard. Thanks for taking the questions and congrats. I just want to repackage some of Julian's earlier question on cost, and you gave some very helpful answers there. But flipping it on its head, what about portfolio pricing expectations as we move forward for Boral and Coates? And I ask that question in the face of expectations for end markets, which you've been pretty clear on. But in particular, given the very high level of inflation in infrastructure costs, that seems to be a recurring discussion topic with central banks and government at the moment. How should we be thinking about price in this inflationary environment for both?
Yeah
... Boral and for Coates?
Look, I mean, pricing is certainly an important aspect. We're not in the same environment we were probably, I think, months, two years ago, where there was strong pricing power in that attribute. I mean, our view is on, you know, ensuring that we can cover kind of our own inflation dynamic with pricing and continue to push that in a disciplined way. But if I think through the broader issues from the industry, which I think is where you're going with central bank, frankly, I think there's more in regulatory costs and processes that's driving inflation accordingly more than what concrete or hire gear would be in reality. So I think it's worth commenting that there's broader issues with that inflation.
But from our perspective, we've, we've had a, a, you know, reset of, of, the effective price of, of construction materials and, over time, got, got better return from, from our, hire equipment. We'll just need to continue that, that same discipline. But, In our view, the, the growth and the performance result shouldn't play through, through, as pronounced through price in, in FY 25. It's gonna be through what we can do to drive more operational efficiencies, in, in the, in both businesses.
Yeah, that's a good answer. Fair enough. Thanks for that. And then maybe just touching on your reference earlier to M&A, and it was just a reference. As a national operator, particularly for construction materials, but arguably relatively underrepresented in WA, your views on expanding your exposure or leverage to WA?
Yeah, I think you're probably trying to ask about BGC if I've done-
I'm not actually. Just more broadly.
Okay. Okay, look, to be honest, I just when I talk M&A, I think it was more reference to Coates and what we believe in relation to, there's opportunities out there to acquire, you know, fleet at reasonable values. It's a logical way to grow a fleet, and I think Coates is operating at a level now where integrating businesses is quite accretive on the right terms. But we'll be very disciplined around that. In relation to looking at Boral's, you know, footprint in WA, yeah, we think that's an opportunity. We think there's other opportunities to invest and grow.
But overall, you know, we'd like to expand that position in WA, and that could be through just organic investment, to be honest. Because for us, it's really about the downstream position. And if on the right terms and inorganic opportunity was to come up, you know, we'd have a look. But we have to remain disciplined in that context. But well, we'll take a similar view in other jurisdictions as well. I think the important part, and I made a reference to it, that you know, if we look at SGH today, you know, we've got three really strong cash flow businesses and Richard's point around the strength of balance sheet means that we can deploy capital...
across where we think there's the best return and opportunity, and that, that's a unique attribute of SGH. So we'll look through that where it makes sense on anything in relation to either organic or any inorganic step. But I think, to date, we've been very disciplined on inorganic steps, and we'll be retaining that discipline as we go forward.
Good, good to hear. And then, Richard, a really boring one, I apologize to you. Just your comments on the leverage and the margin and the low increase in D&A costs of 1.7% year-on-year, reflecting, you know, disciplined capital allocation, cost recovery, pricing. What's the outlook for D&A? What's the range for D&A in FY 2025 under the current capital allocation plan? Can you give us a bit of a steer on that?
Yeah.
Just makes life easier.
Sure. We wouldn't see D&A significantly changing next year. In terms of capital investment, we would see capital investment stepping up a little, and that really just reflects the net incremental investment in the energy assets. Yeah, I think you could expect the energy assets in terms of Crux to, you know, incrementally, we'd be talking about another AUD 100 million of capital in Crux, based off current views, which, you know, given their in-field and drilling, are pretty well-formed, and the rest of the businesses.
So we would expect all our net CapEx in the year to be, you know, a little over AUD 100 million greater than this year, and then with the catch-up capital that Ryan's referred to in HME, you know, we would expect that sort of edging up close to AUD 800 million.
Perfect. Thanks so much. Appreciate you taking the time.
Thanks, Oliver.
Your next question comes from Joseph Cuccia with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Thanks, Ryan and Richard. Just firstly, on the adjacent growth opportunities you've highlighted with Boral, can you maybe give us a sense for the size of the opportunity in enhancing the C&D waste position, and what kinds of investments would need to be made there?
Yeah.
Perhaps secondly, can you just elaborate a bit on the property strategy, you know, particularly the partnership with LOGOS on developing Deer Park?
Yes. So, I think, Joseph, the primary reason that we called that out was just to ensure we're emphasizing where we see, you know, Boral and our primary. Our focus has been on getting the performance journey in place and locked in. And as I said earlier, the team have done that, and it is a great result in that core construction materials business to see the EBIT margin where it is. We do see those adjacent growth areas, and we definitely think recycling and leveraging the Boral asset position we have inherently in using some of those recycled products as an opportunity, and it's one we want to explore. I'd say at this point, it's probably too early to outline, you know, what we see in that context.
But what we're just trying to emphasize, that there's growth expectations in core construction materials, that there are additional growth avenues within Boral. And it's a bit similar with property where, you know, we'd like the Deer Park site's been one we've spoken about over time. It's been, I think, probably, you know, quite heavily portrayed through the independent expert report as far as the opportunity. We are really trying to emphasize our, you know, pivot to taking control of Boral from a prior strategy to divest of surplus property, to where we can look to hold, redevelop, and kind of exploit over the long term. So, both are elements we call out. But you know, recycling's had good growth in FY 2024.
We expect growth in FY 25, but at this point, you know, we wouldn't really have any more kind of detail on any kind of inorganic steps other than to say, you know, we do think it's compelling growth and an area we just, you know, we'll focus more attention on into FY 25.
Great. Thanks for that color. Perhaps on Coates, are you seeing any sort of broader industry dynamics that are supportive of hire as opposed to sort of construction companies owning their own equipment? I know you've kind of spoken about that a little bit in the past, but kind of keen to hear if there are any, if there are any updates on that. And just in general, how are you sort of seeing the competition in the hire market evolving at the moment?
Yeah, it's. And we've spoken about that because we think that's a long duration trend where, our customers are increasingly looking to rental to solve the, their, their, you know, equipment requirements. If you think the nature of projects, and, you know, what's required to win major government projects today, you know, it isn't the requirement to have a large pool of gear. You know, there is an expectation as the head contractor, you can subcontract and, you know, bring gear in where required and rely on a rental market for that. And that's we've seen in other jurisdictions. I think that's playing through in Australia as well.
So we do see that, that growth dynamic over time playing through as far as the demand for a hire or whether the, the you know, increasing, hire the percentage of work done. So I think that's a, that's a bit of a, a structural dynamic that, that is playing through. In relation to, competition, I mean, where, where markets, you know, start to, go flat to negative, you definitely see an increase in competition. We've been focused on maintaining that, that price leadership as, as the market leader and, and that's been an important discipline for us. I think that the value of Coates has is an ability to, to move, gear around, which means that, that we can, you know, bring gear into markets where there's stronger demand and, and pull out of markets where it's weaker.
That's definitely, you know, playing out, you know, in the East Coast with, you know, what might be elements in Viktoria, where we're seeing growth. In Queensland, we're seeing, you know, a lot of commencements, you know, occurring in New South Wales. So, you know, that's a key strength of Coates's platform, which means it gives us a better position to compete. Overall, we are seeing, I think the market probably, you know, still pretty consistent. Yeah, I'd say that there's probably a growing dynamic where over time it will, you know, there'll be increasing concentration to fewer bigger players, which will, in our view, aid improve returns.
Great. And how's the Coates solution business performing?
Yeah, that's yeah, we're—we've sort of had a much greater transparency into the, the, the P&L in that business. And I'd say on engineering solutions, it's performed, you know, very well. We're, yeah, kind of, we're winning work in that context and making superior margins on industrial solutions. We've got some work to do on our go-to-market strategy that has, yeah, and that transparency in the P&L has meant, you know, better insight into that. And so, the lumpy nature of some of that work, so industrial shuts, et cetera, mean that we are reviewing and adjusting the workforce to be more variable to deal with some of that work, as an example.
But overall, yeah, it's a key growth factor for us. And you know, it does present a meaningful contributor to earnings. But you know, we are you know continuing to push that go-to-market enhancement and improvement. So that yeah, it'll be a big focus for us in FY 25 as well.
Great, thanks. And just last one from me on WesTrac. Can you maybe talk about the aging of the fleet and kind of what the average lives are of the current fleet, how that's changing, and perhaps any additional color on how that's impacting the service, the sort of parts business?
Yeah, I'll give you some broad context, but Richard gives the data point on the number. But I think it's just you know, if we look at how customers are operating gear today, you know, the notion of running components to their appropriate life is something that is happening more and more, which means you can kind of extend that frame life out and look to continue even through rebuild of that frame to have that frame extend longer and longer. And having gear in territory working and looking to rebuild seems to be you know, a bigger focus for customers. And so we are seeing that strategy play through.
We are seeing a pretty active kind of rebuild attribute. But it's a logical maintenance strategy when you can have aged gear work at the same productivity as, you know, as new gear through that component management. And our job in being able to rebuild individual components mean that we've become very integrated into that whole maintenance operation. But Richard, yeah, fleet?
Sure. In terms of... It's really relevant when we talk to mining fleet. We've got roughly 8,000 mining units currently in operation in territory. If we have a look between the two states, in terms of WA, despite the significant investment in new fleet, the average age of fleet has actually increased by effectively 0.2 of a year, so it's gone up from 11 to 11.2. And in terms of New South Wales, it's actually gone up, funnily enough, by 0.2 again, from 13 to 13.2, just reflecting, I suppose, the different investment histories between New South Wales and WA. So New South Wales has a slightly older fleet.
and in terms of where does that sit against historical averages, that's probably, you know, in terms of New South Wales, a little higher than historical. And in WA, it's probably come down just a tad with the significant investment at Boddington, KCGM, and some of our other customers over the last two years.
Perfect. Thank you. That's all from me.
There are no further questions at this time. That does conclude our conference call today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.