Thanks, Darcy. Welcome, everyone, to the call today for FY 2025 full-year results presentation. Before I start, I really would like to acknowledge our people. There will be many SRG Global people on this call listening in. It's been another outstanding year. You've really stepped up and really lived and breathed what we stand for as a business: live with a challenge, smile together, never give up, and have each other's back. I'm very proud to be working with you and really thank you for all your efforts for this year. To move to slide two, I always like to start with a bit about us, particularly for those that are newer to the story. Who are we? We're a diversified infrastructure services company, and the key here being the diversity of what we do. What we do is we bring an engineering mindset to deliver critical services for major industry.
The key thing here, it's critical services. It's not doing the landscaping, the laundry. It's about delivering services that are critical for our clients, which makes us critical for them. We have the ability to do that across the entire asset lifecycle of engineer, construct, and sustain. Particularly with markets that have moved more towards wanting to deal with less players that could do more for them, the fact that we can offer that complete service for critical services gives us a huge point of difference. In our vision, what we want to be is the most sought after in what we do. Some might say number one market leader. For us, when our clients have a challenge, a problem, an opportunity, the first people they want them to think of when they pick up the phone is SRG Global and us making the complex simple for them.
We move to slide three. We're a diversified infrastructure services company with two key operating segments: Maintenance & Industrial Services and Engineering & Construction, which really aligns to the profile that we are today. You can see from some of our key sectors, we play across a diverse range of sectors, all with very strong growth tailwinds in front of them. It really gives us a very broad platform on which to apply our skills as we grow into the future. As we move to slide four, it gives you the profile and really highlights the transformation that we've made as a business. Now, more than 4,500 people across more than 20 industries, revenues of circa $1.3 billion, and a market cap of roughly $1 billion. We've now become an ASX 300 company, pretty evenly spread geographically between the East and West, with the balance team in New Zealand.
For me, probably the big takeaway from slide four is just the geographic footprint and presence we have today gives us an enormous opportunity to really leverage the full service offering that we have. Really now to slide five, which is, I guess, the key slide in the overall deck, which is the summary of the year. You know, what you're really seeing here is evidence, further evidence of us delivering and doing everything that we said we would do. It's a record financial result with EBITDA of $127.1 million, which is up 29% on FY 2024, EBIT of $93.8 million, which is up 43% on FY 2024 and above consensus. We have a really strong financial result, and we'll delve into that in more detail shortly. Terrific returns for shareholders. Earnings per share of $0.103 a share, which is up 34% on FY 2024.
We increased the dividend in the second half to $0.03 fully franked, which is up 20% on the second half last year, and takes our full dividend to $0.055 per share, which is up 22% over the corresponding period. I think it's something we've done very well over the journey is really balance the growth of the company, but also growing the dividend for shareholders as well. Terrific cash generation with EBITDA to cash of 102%, and we transitioned to net cash of $16.2 million, which is from pro forma net debt of $38.2 million post the Diona acquisition and really continues our strong track record of cash generation over our journey. It's very much part of our culture, the really strong cash generation of the group, and particularly pleased to be back in a net cash position so quickly.
We bought Diona during the period, which was a transformational acquisition for us in the water security and energy transition space. It's been a highly accretive acquisition for us. It's delivered above business case on every metric. It's been an incredibly successful first 10 months, fully integrated as now SRG Global Utilities. For me, what I'm most particularly pleased about is the cultural integration, really working together as one. The reception from the client base is exceptionally strong. I'm really pleased with how that business is performing and how that's unlocked value in the greater group and vice versa. We now have record work-in-hand at $3.6 billion, which is up 20% on this time 12 months ago.
It just gives us a terrific platform and visibility into the future, which is a good segue into our outlook for FY 2026, where we're providing early guidance of EBITDA and EBITDA growth of circa 10% on FY 2025. That's above consensus numbers on a forward-looking basis and really continues the strong growth profile of SRG Global and how we've grown the business thus far and will continue to grow into the future. I think it's an overarching summary of the year before I get into the detail. It's been an outstanding year, again, one that really positions the business very, very well for the future and really driving what is very consistent growth, but very high-quality growth for our shareholders. I want to now move over a couple of slides into some of the more detailed financial metrics for FY 2025 on slide seven.
You can see there it's really strong on every line. Revenue up strongly, EBITDA, EBIT, and EBIT exceptionally and NPAT exceptionally strong. Probably for me, most pleasingly is the margin percentage performance continues to really be industry leading. EBITDA margin of 9.6%, EBIT margin of 7.1%, and NPAT margin of 4.6%. You can really see the benefits of us becoming a more and more capital-wide business and how that top line growth is transcending into the bottom line. Dividends per share up 22%, which I touched on in the summary, and earnings per share up 34%. To me, it's the fundamentals of the business and the platform that gives us to really sustainably grow into the future, has us very, very well positioned. In some ways, for me, the numbers really don't do justice to the quality of the business we have today. I really link that back to strategy.
We've had a very, very clear strategy for a long period of time. What you're seeing today is further evidence of us delivering against that strategy and executing and doing everything that we said we would do. We moved to slide eight. I think probably one of the key takeaways from today is not just one good year. This is a continuation of a track record of delivery over a long, long period of time. You can really see the positive trends, be it from an EBITDA perspective, an earnings per share perspective, a dividend perspective, and it really shows the track record of delivery from the company. If we move to slide nine, that really probably goes into some of the more detailed financial metrics over the journey. You can really see the quality, the track record, and we have delivered on every single metric.
You know, whether it's revenue, profit, margin percentage , dividends, earnings per share, you're really seeing the evidence of the transformation of the business and evidence of executing the strategy. Our EPS is more than 200% growth in the last four years. I'm not sure there'd be too many ASX 300 stocks that have done that sort of level over the period. It's one that we can continue to consistently deliver against. Really pleased how we transitioned to that sort of 80% annuity recurring earnings profile, which really allows that consistent growth and that visibility. We've shown a clear track record of both winning but also executing work. It's probably a question I've been asked over the journey, just buying growth. What you're really seeing again today is further evidence of us winning high-quality work with high-quality clients, but also executing against that with industry leading margin percentage.
Underpinning that is just a really strong track record of cash generation over the journey where we've really driven not just the financial metrics but the cash generation of the group to fund our growth and the growing dividend, which is a pretty good segue into slide 10, which is around a little bit more detail around the cash generation. As I mentioned earlier, EBITDA to cash conversion of 102%. I moved from a net debt position back to a net cash position in a very quick timeframe, which is really pleasing for the group. A high free cash flow with free cash flow of $74 million, which is terrific. Really that continued track record of how we're really growing the business, growing the profit, but also underpinning that with really strong cash generation as well.
As we move to slide 11, it really has the company well poised in a very robust financial position with an exceptionally strong balance sheet, which gives us the funding to grow the business both organically and inorganically. It really gives us that strength of our financial position, but also maintaining flexibility as we keep growing the business into the future. That in some ways is, I guess, some of the financial key data. As we move to slide 12, now really what's driving our performance is the strong foundation of the business and what we stand for as a company. I used to sort of get, I've been running this business for now more than 10 years and running a public company early on, I used to sort of worry at times that our competitors would see your clients, your margins, and your strategy.
It's not the best widget or the smartest strategy that drives performance. It's people and it's culture. For us, it's living and breathing what we stand for as a business. Live for the challenge, smile together, never give up, and have each other's backs. These aren't words that sit on a page or sit on a wall in our business. That's what's driving our performance. I always say to our shareholders, when you're investing in us, that's what you're investing in. You're investing in what we stand for as a business because that is what's driving our performance and that is our point of difference. As we move to slide 13, which is a bit on environmental, social, and governance, we've tried to provide some examples. H ere r eally for us, it's how we keep things very real and how we make a difference as a business.
From an environmental perspective, I provide some examples there. The work over carbon capture software platforms now fully implemented in the business and operational and has us very well prepared for the increase in climate reporting in FY 2026. I've given you some examples of some of the sustainability initiatives we have, such as alternative composite materials, particularly in concrete, e-waste recycling, our solar-powered site facilities. Really for us, the key thing we focus on in the environmental space is really working with our clients, coming up with value engineering, smarter designs, better way of doing things that really improve their environmental footprint, given we operate on our clients' sites. From a social perspective, I'm really pleased with how the Bugarrba Aboriginal Joint Venture is going for scaffolding services. It's the first of its kind in the West. It's progressing very well.
Our flagship clients are FMG and BHP, and we see further growth opportunity moving forward. We've now launched our Innovate Wrap in FY 2025, which is more focused on the what and the how and moving on from the Reflect Wrap. Really for us, it's about how we create pathways moving into the future. N ow, from a social perspective, for us, it's all around how we become, how we're a good citizen in the local communities in which we operate. I'm particularly pleased with the work we're doing with Qantar, which is providing opportunities for young Aboriginal men and also Shooting Stars, w e're providing opportunities for young Aboriginal women and providing pathways for growth and career opportunities f or us, given we're very well spread geographically, operating in a lot of remote communities, it's how we're a good community citizen in the areas that we play in.
From a governance perspective, it's very much continuing to embed the risk management framework that we have. We are very much positioned and operating as a blue chip company. We have implemented Felix software for supply chain management in the period. I'm particularly pleased with all the work we're doing around psychosocial, which is not just in industry, but in society. A lot of work we do there is in terms of equipping our leaders with the required skills to keep managing our workforce into the future, which is growing. I'm really pleased. I don't celebrate safety. Our TRIFRA is 2.2, which is absolutely industry leading. Safety to me is a glass bowl in business. You bounce a lot of balls in business. They're all rubber. Safety is a glass bowl that you can't afford to drop. We don't like to celebrate it because every day is a new day.
We're really pleased on the leadership and the proactive engagement that we have in the business, very much driven by our frontline leaders. Every day is a new day, and it's one that we really focus on heavily. I think you can see from an overall company performance, exceptional from a financial perspective, but really underpinning that is really strong culture and a really strong safety culture as well. I always say, give me a business that's driving its safety performance well, and generally the financials will be looking after themselves. I'm going to switch gears a little bit now as we move more into the operating segment update as we move to slide 15. You can see our two key operating segments: Maintenance & Industrial Services and Engineering & Construction. Really strong performance across both segments. I think the key takeaway here is excellent operational execution with consistent margins.
Margins are very much in line with historicals, both in Maintenance & Industrial Services, with EBITDA margins of 14% and EBIT just above 11%. Engineering & Construction is around 8% EBITDA and above 6% EBIT, very much in line with historical. From the corporate perspective, low twos, we very much focus corporately on what matters. That allows us to have a very reasonably lean structure and spend, but one that's very well equipped to keep scaling the business into the future. You can really see the evidence of that through the financial performance. I move to slide 16, and we'll go into Maintenance & Industrial Services in a bit more detail.
If there's a couple of key takeaways from slide 16, it's the diversity of services on which we operate, which we deliver, which very much aligns with a marketplace that is wanting to deal with fewer players that do more. The other key thing is just the quality of the client base. An absolute blue chip client base across a diverse range of industries that really has the value engineering that we deliver and are willing to pay for that, which is clearly evidenced by the margin that we're delivering. We move to slide 17. You can really see the update for the year.
The key thing is excellent performance, step change growth, a number of really good long-term contracts secured: Hunter Water, Genesis Energy in New Zealand, the Department of Climate Change and Energy, SA Water, Fonterra, Transport for Victoria, BHP, South 32, HanRoy and Origin, Rio Tinto, and Genesis Minerals. You can really see the diversity of sectors, the diversity of clients, with the blue chip nature of those clients. We're now very geographically spread across both Australia and New Zealand. The opportunity for us is to continue to leverage that footprint to provide other services with clients that we have today, which really opens up further opportunity for us. A lot of it's more around how do we win work within contracts we have today, sort of ad hoc work by just being there, but also adding other skills and services to those clients.
As I touched on earlier today, Diona's been a very successful acquisition integration and is now operating as SRG Global Utilities. It's delivered absolutely above business case on every single metric and has really good wins already, both in that water space and energy transition space and a really good pipeline of further opportunities. It's done everything that we would expect it was going to do, very much primarily with government under cost-plus framework agreements. There have been some great early examples of cross-selling initiatives both ways, particularly in areas such as SA Water and others. There are good opportunities both for that business and the broader business working together into the future, which is a good segue to the rest of the business.
We see a lot of growth coming up in the future in water, in the broader business, transport, industrial and resources, ports and marine, and the energy space. I think that's one of the key messages out of today: we're not so reliant on any one sector or one geography. We have a very broad platform on which to apply our skills, and we can grow in multiple, multiple ways. We're not reliant on any one single thing. I think that sort of diversity is one of our real strengths. If we move into energy and Engineering & Construction on slide 18, you can really see the core services we provide, very much early contractor engagement, self-perform capability. If there's a couple of key takeaways from slide 18, it's very much the quality of the clients that we have today. Most importantly, they're all repeat clients.
Really, all the work we've announced this year, and we've announced a lot of new work across the company, is really all with repeat clients that we have today. They value what we do. The commercial frameworks are well established. It's very much an early contractor engagement model where we basically value engineer better outcomes, which drives better margin performance but gives us the right commercial framework and risk profile to really deliver against. We'll move to slide nine. It's been an excellent year again in Engineering & Construction, really strong performance underpinned by excellent execution. Our first major R5B4 project with Transport for New South Wales is progressing very well, as is the Jervis Bay Integrated Road and Bridge project. For those on the call from New South Wales, I'm sure many of you will probably see it.
You would have seen it over Christmas and will see it again this year and hopefully make your drive down the South Coast a little bit easier. From a facade perspective, the absolute market leadership position in facades goes from strength to strength across both Australia and New Zealand, particularly growing strongly in the health and education space. There has been a lot of spend in schools, universities, and hospitals over the period, but that is really continuing over the next three to five years. We are really well positioned in that space. Our engineered products business, which is an adjunct offering to our infrastructure services business in that space, is progressing well. We like production. Make it, sell it, you get paid. It is the same clients. It is a very low risk profile. It is really an additional engineered product service that we can provide to infrastructure projects.
We continue to expand that in a very disciplined way. It is probably a long-term five to seven-year horizon about how we keep growing that business, but one that is doing particularly well. I touched on it earlier, particularly in Engineering & Construction. It is really the robust commercial framework that we have. All our work is really early contractor engagement. You have good visibility. You value engineering with the client. A lot of this is sole source paid style work. It is really with a blue chip client base that we have very, very long relationships with in transport, defense, water, industrial resources, and in data centers and health and education. It really drives that consistent performance. It allows us to be very targeted and specific on what we will and will not do and has that business very well positioned as we grow into the future.
This is a good way, a good segue into the way forward. If we move a couple of slides onto slide 21, which is really the SRG Global strategy, we have had a very, very clear strategy for a long period of time. Today you are seeing further evidence of us delivering against that strategy. The growth phase of that strategy is very much morphing into the leadership phase as well. Long-term growth in Maintenance & Industrial Services, you are seeing evidence of that again today. Very targeted growth in Engineering & Construction with key replete clients. You are seeing evidence of that today. Step change growth in engineered products, you are seeing evidence of that today. Leveraging our capability and footprint in water security energy transition, you are seeing evidence of that today.
That is now very much morphing into leadership where we want to be a zero harm industry leader. We want to be an industry leader, a place that people want to work and choose to come to us. It's been interesting as we sort of track how we attract people into the business. We're now more than 4,500 people, and the lion's share of people we attract comes through word of mouth, which I think is a really good indication of people within the business bringing good people and recommending coming to work at SRG Global. We'll keep enhancing our innovation and technology to drive our growth and competitive advantage. I see it very much as an enabler. A lot of sort of innovation and technology in the company, both from a software perspective but also sort of specialist kit and skill sets.
We very much see that as enabled to execute work. We're never going to come out and say we're a tech company, even though we are charging for our software and the like. We very much see that as the enabler to grow the business and execute work and get the sort of margins that we get. We'll continue to assess strategic acquisitions and either complement our capability and our footprint. We've got a very long track record of growing the business both organically, but overlaying that with really good inorganic, highly accretive acquisitions. You're seeing further evidence of that for the year we've just had. We're going to keep delivering above market returns to shareholders. You're really seeing that through our earnings per share growth, circa 200% in the last four years, a really strong total shareholder return as well. I almost feel boring putting up this slide.
It's been the same slide for a long, long period of time, but I think that's something we've done very well over the journey. We've had a very clear strategy, a very simple strategy, and we're absolutely delivering against that and staying very, very disciplined and focused on what we want to be, but also most importantly, what we don't want to be as we keep growing and positioning the business for the future, which is a good segue to slide 22. We are very well positioned here, and the strategic transformation we've undertaken really has us poised to keep delivering sustainable growth into the future. We have terrific work-in-hand, $3.6 billion, a great pipeline of opportunities with clients and sectors that we know and know well with skill sets that we have today.
We've increased our guidance for FY 2026 by growing it by circa 10%, which really is a good segue to slide 23, which has a very, very positive outlook and positive momentum for the business. Very early and clear guidance for the market, which is above consensus. Terrific work-in-hand and a good pipeline exposed to a lot of positive sectors in water, energy, industrial resources, transport, defense, health, education, data center, and ports and marine. A high level of annual recurring earnings of circa 80%. The transformation of diversified infrastructure to diversified infrastructure services is going to keep delivering consistent growth and high-quality returns to shareholders. I think that's the key here. It's not just the transformation, it's not just the growth, but it's the quality of the growth and the quality of the business that we have today has us very, very well positioned for the future.
I think that's a good segue to slide 24, which is the investment proposition of SRG Global. We have complete end-to-end asset lifecycle capability with self-performed skills, which gives us a point of difference. We play across diverse market sectors and geographies that gives us a natural hedge. We're not relying on any one sector, one client, one geography, one project, but have a very, very broad platform on which to grow into the future. We have a highly scalable business model, and today you've seen further evidence of that. We've got the experience, the systems, and the structure to keep being a bigger and better business than we are today. A high level of annual earnings profile, which makes us very predictable and consistent on the way that we grow.
A very capital light business with CapEx circa 2% of revenue and a good high growth dividend stock where we balance both the growth but increasing dividends to shareholders. The company's in an incredibly strong position. It's probably the strongest position it's been in, certainly in my time in the business. For us, it's about getting back to work, staying disciplined, staying focused, and keep executing and keep doing everything that we said we would do. I really want to thank our shareholders. It's been another very strong 12 months. I hope you can sort of see from the performance that we continue to deliver for you. Most importantly, I really want to thank our people again. You keep stepping up, you keep living for the challenge, you keep being smarter together, you never give up, and you have each other's backs.
I can't thank you enough for the year we've had. I'm very, very excited for the year ahead and the future we have in front of us as we keep building the company that I know we can be. Thank you.
All right. Thanks, David, for that presentation. Awesome. On to Q&As now, and I'll moderate. It's Roger Lee here. First one on the system is Diona EBITDA margin circa 9.5% for FY 2025 at the time of acquisition. You're running at closer to 9%. What margins do we think Diona could reach over time?
I think our margins are going to be around the level. I mean, the EBITDA margins are slightly below the maintenance, but the EBIT margins are high, very capital light. Look, I think it'll be pretty consistent. I mean, I think the key thing to understand when you're doing the business, when you're talking about long-term eight-year cost-plus government framework agreements, that's a very, very healthy margin. It's very much industry leading. I think we always look for ways we can improve every part of our business, but I expect the margin performance to be pretty consistent from year to year.
That's fair enough. Now it's a whole of wins in June 2025. Where do we expect them to ramp up in the second half of 2026? What sort of skew do we think first half versus second half in 2026?
I think for us, the key thing is we guide by years. Guidance is circa 10% for FY 2026, and that's the guidance we provide. Historically, we've sort of been somewhere around that 45%-55% split, but it'll vary from year to year, very much picking with more and more government work. Sometimes there's more spend in the first half, sometimes there's more spend in the second. I think for me, 45%-55% has been around the level. If it's 47%-53% or 49%-51%, the route is we're guiding for a year. I think making an investment decision based on a four-year guidance of 10% and sort of what falls in the first or second half is, to be honest, pretty irrelevant for me in terms of the way that I run the business. Sometimes government brings stuff forward, sometimes they push it out, but it'll be sort of reasonably in line with historical.
Another astounding result this year, EBITDA margins at 9.6% is a great achievement. Does work in the net zero space provide similar margins or is the competition more fierce?
I think our margins are pretty consistent across all the sectors that we play in. A lot of the work we do is very much, we value engineers, come up with better ideas, better solutions, and that really positions us well from a pretty consistent margin perspective across all sectors that we play in. It's sort of interesting in the net zero space because we've got very high value engineering skills. Particularly if you can come up with better and smarter ways of doing things, you can really sometimes extract a point of difference, not so much through margin, but through coming up with better ideas. I think wind farms are a good example. We've got certain anchoring technology that can reduce the concrete footings that are required, given certain geotechnical conditions.
It's an example where if you're going into sort of a renewable space, coming up with a different solution that's smarter or reduces environmental footprint, it could be highly attractive for people that are trying to really play in this space. I wouldn't say the margins are any different to sort of any other sector in which we play in.
Just to overlay that, David, I guess the key thing for us is the commercial framework and the terms in which we operate and contract with are the key driver for us. That's consistent, whether it be in the Maintenance & Industrial Services space, E& C space, or the net zero space. Consistently, the key thing is ensuring that we've got the right commercial framework that we can enter into that relationship with our clients.
We've always said that, Roger, over a long period of time. The reality is, commercial framework trumps everything. Y ou can have an industry thematic that's poor. We have the right commercial framework to do very well. Vice versa, you can have an industry thematic with all this spend, but the wrong commercial framework, you're not going to do well. I think that for us, it's around clients we know today, very well established commercial frameworks and things that we're good at. I think that's the key in that discipline. That discipline will continue into the future.
Yeah. Beyond FY 2026, how is the business thinking about EBITDA growth outlook?
Oh, look, I think to be fair, we've provided very early guidance for FY2026. I mean, I've sort of been on record over the journey of saying sort of 8%-1 0% kind of about how we feel from an earnings growth perspective over a three to five-year time horizon. The reality is we've kept exceeding that. Our guidance is very strong for 2026 again, and it's early as you can see. If you want a three to five-year time horizon, if you make 10% a year, earnings growth will be around the level. One thing we do is we provide very early guidance in a financial year, and you can see we're very well positioned and use that guidance as your investment criteria. I'm not here to provide five-year guidance, but kind of how we think about the business. It's around the 8%- 10% mark, is sort of the range over the next three to five years.
It will very much depend on the opportunity. We see some really good opportunities in 2027, 2028, and 2029 of what visibility we have. Certainly, the sectors we play in, there's a lot of spend coming up and clients and sectors that value our skills. The company is well positioned, but again, it's about being disciplined and ensuring it's the right commercial framework, things that we're good at, and clients that we know and know well. It's not just growth for growth's sake. It's growing and growing the quality of the business into the future.
Question here about organic EBITDA growth. Ex-Diona first half 2025, second half 2025, and the difference between the two. I think for mine, David, you kind of touched on this before already that at the end of the day, we're guiding the market to the full year results. The first half, second half results, you know, things will flex from one half to another. Overarching the full year, we have grown ex-Diona organically 10% EBITDA, 16% EBIT.
I think that assumption there is slide, actually hasn't slide, second half pretty consistent. Diona was a higher margin business in the first half. I think that sort of statement's actually false.
First half, second half, see the seasonality. I think we covered that off. It's still, yeah, EBITDA consistently for Diona growth, similar to the rest of the business. I think we talked about before, David, the profile of that circa 8%- 10% going forward. I think that's kind of it. View and openness to M&A, is this still a priority considering the net cash balance and our strong financial position?
I think for us, you know, we're playing very, had a very clear strong strategy for a long period of time, and the reality is we'll grow strongly organically. If there are the right inorganic opportunities that unlock shareholder value, then you know the reality is we're positioned. I think to me, it's a matter of being ready when the right thing presents that makes sense. I always find speed and certainty generally trump value in a deal. You've seen a really strong long track record of, you know, when we do acquire inorganically, they're highly accretive and they do well, but it's just about being ready when the right thing presents an unlocked value, not just in the business, but in the particular business you're acquiring, but also opens up further opportunity in the greater group.
I'm sure over the next three to five years, you know, we'll grow strongly organically, and there will be certain inorganic opportunities that unlock value for shareholders as well.
Diona had a very strong second half. Is that usual seasonality for the business that we should expect, or is there underlying demand conditions?
It looks strong first half and second half from an earnings perspective. It's all very much government work, so there will be certain times governments will spend or push it out. There's a lot of investment, particularly in that water space. If you're going to use a proxy, sort of 45%-55% around, it might be around the level, but it's just going to vary from year. I think the perspective this year, it was pretty consistent first half, second half, maybe almost slightly higher in the first half in terms of government spend work. I think the key thing for us is it's about the year itself. I don't sort of get high up on what's in November, December, and what's in January, February.
We guide to the year, and we are getting down to sort of very minute levels here when you're trying to predict certain spends happening in a 30-day period. I think start with 45%-55%, but it could be more evenly split this year and we'll sort of see how it goes.
Yeah. SRG has traditionally been reluctant to have too much debt or pay the ground very quickly post acquisitions. How do we think about that as the group gets bigger, more diversified, greater visibility?
Look, I think for us, we like a very strong balance sheet. One of the few companies in that space that raised no money through COVID. It's about having a very disciplined, strong balance sheet, and it just gives us flexibility. If there's inorganic opportunities, we'll just treat every one on its merit in terms of use equity or debt or cash. I think the reality is we've got a very strong balance sheet that gives us flexibility, and we'll just keep assessing it as we go. We're not a bit, some could call it a slightly conservative balance sheet. For us, it's a really strong balance sheet no matter what the environment we face, but also gives us the flexibility to move quickly if the right opportunity presents. That has been, I think, a key part of our success over the last three, four or five years.
All right, terrific. Maintenance growth in the ex-Diona business, SRG businesses was strong in the second half, particularly given we had a bit of a volume hit from Alcoa, upper market tailwinds in the first half. What were the key growth drivers?
Pretty strong growth across the board. I mean, one thing that we've done well is we've got such a significant footprint across Australia and New Zealand. When you've got this sort of level of volume of contracts, the ability to win ad hoc work on the back of site is one that we're starting to see the benefits of. You’ve seen with certainly our EBIT margin has got stronger and stronger. Certainly, having that sort of ad hoc work is one of the key drivers. Also, as I call out a number of the contracts that we've secured over the period, we keep winning work. What we're seeing from a number of years now is clients want to deal with less players that could do more for them.
The diversity of what we offer and the value engineering of that continues to open up opportunities, not just within Maintenance & Industrial Services, but Maintenance & Industrial Services opens up opportunities for Engineering & Construction and vice versa. I think you'll see more and more evidence of that in FY 2026 and FY 2027.
Okay, yeah, that one's been covered off. One for me, redundancy costs, that's a smaller number than FY 2025. Sorry, a smaller number in FY 2025 than it was in FY 2024. Roger, can you please elaborate what they were for Diona or other parts of the business? We talked about the curtailment in Albemarle and Alcoa. Clearly, some of those contracts had a redundancy element that was obviously $1 million. I think what's good about the diversity of the business is that we were able to reallocate people across the parts of the business as well to reduce the hit.
Where possible.
Where possible.
Yeah.
Is SRG well positioned to win a bigger share of the country's defense budget, which is government's forecasted to increase?
We plan the defense space today. I think FY 2026 is a pretty similar performance to FY 2025, so around that sort of $50 million revenue mark. There's a lot of spend coming up. I certainly don't think it's a 2026 story, it's more 2027, 2028 and beyond. Look, we've got a very good position, particularly here in the West. We also are assessing things nationally as well, and we're well positioned to gain our share. I guess it's one of the number of sectors on which there's some good spend profiles coming up, not just in the next sort of three to five years, but in the next sort of five, 10, 15 years. We're in a strong position to grab our share.
Is SRG Global tendering for the Paradise Dam upgrade?
Yeah, look, I don't like talking about individual contracts too much, but it's one that there's a managing contractor for that already in place. There may well be certain elements, particularly with our that may open up for us. I don't really, for a commercial reason, make too much comment on individual contracts. Probably more broadly, there's enormous spends coming up in the water, you know, in the water space. Sunw ater is a very long client of ours. I think the key message here is we're well positioned, not just on individual projects, but across broader spends that these water authorities have.
I think you might have covered the next one off already, but us looking at more acquisition opportunities and a view on M&A into the future.
I think it's part of the job. We just keep assessing organically and inorganically. Look, the reality is the key focus is growing the business organically. If there is something that makes sense that I'm exposed to, we're well positioned to move.
Structures West, facilities in Henderson, and the developments in HMS Stirling. Can you provide some flavor on the Garden Island opportunities and defense more broadly?
Yeah, look, I think for us, the sort of work we're doing is more infrastructure, construction space, particularly in that facilities construction work to house some of the assets to come. We've had some hope over time that the Engineering & Construction sort of also morphs into the maintenance elements as well. At this point in time, it's more in the Engineering & Construction space.
Roughly how much of the $3.5 billion is work-in-hand booked for FY 2026? I guess the question is how much visibility do we have on FY 2026?
[audio distortion] To the market, we sort of think we're sort of 80% style earnings and the balance of it more in that sort of Engineering & Construction space and sort of a higher degree of either what's locked in or what's visible.
Yeah, you mentioned that SRG is a highly scalable business model. Can you please elaborate on that?
I think, to me, the key message there is we are structured and continue to be structured and ready to be a bigger business than we are today. Turning over $500 million, we're structured and ready to be a $1 billion turnover business. We're sort of well poised now and structured to be a larger business than the year we've just had in FY 2025. It's not about carrying excess fat in the business, but it's having the right sort of systems, structure, leadership, and experience in place to be a bigger business than we are. I think that's the key to execution. It's about being ready, not sort of winning and then working out how you're actually going to execute. We're well positioned ahead of time. I think a lot of that comes to the clients that we have, long-term clients.
We know them well, have exceptional visibility of what's coming up in their world, and it allows us to plan and position and to be ready to partner and deliver for them.
Can you please clarify your approach to announcing contract wins after the large grouped announcement in June?
I don't think there's an individual approach. I guess as we've grown over time, sort of what's, you know, we're kind of as a company now less reliant on, you know, winning individual things to kind of keep driving the growth. I think we'll be announcing $50 million of work late June, start of July. The reality is the pipeline's strong in front of us, but we tend to probably chunk things up a little bit more in an announcement. There's no kind of set, here's the criteria. It really, it's kind of just providing the sort of flow sort of more periodically as opposed to sort of project by project.
Reasonably broad question, but probably covered up anyway, but you know, does a reduction in government subsidies or an increase in spending on renewables or a reduction in that impact SRG ?
I think for the macro here, say, has a huge impact.
Yeah.
For us, there's a lot of spend coming up, but again, you touched on earlier, Roger, that the commercial framework, trying to say there can be a lot of spend coming up in government spend, but if it's the wrong commercial framework, then it's not where we want to be. We are quite specific on opportunities within segments, and renewables are no different to that, where you know there's certain construction opportunities, but then there's certain maintenance opportunities that lead on from that as well. I think the government will do what the government does, and I don't think that'll change our approach or the sort of areas that we want to focus on and grow, because it's really the commercial framework element that's most important for us.
Based on the defense thing.
I think I'll be telling the wrong answer to that one.
This one here. How is David's motivation after 10 years? Any succession plans? Did you plan this one, David?
A really detailed, rigorous talent management plan runs very deep within the company, and we keep developing leaders within the business. I've got an excellent, experienced executive team that do an amazing job, and you know I'm very motivated. I want to keep driving the business because I think we're still in the early stages of what this company can be and what we're building. Unless people want to tap me on the shoulder and tell me to go, I'm not planning on going anywhere.
Yeah. Fair enough. What does this amazing business growth mean for employees regarding the salary increases?
Is this from somewhere within SRG Global? Looks like it may. I think for us, you know, we know people in that business well. We keep paying really strong market to both attract and retain people, and I think overlaying that, we have a very strong culture where people enjoy the environment which we work in. That to me is the best way to sort of help people build their careers and retain people and build their careers and build the company at the same time.
I think the feedback we get consistently is that new people joining us feel that there's a very different environment here culturally, a very supportive environment, and people stay and our turnover rate is extremely low. I think that's one. SRG contract announcements, do they include contract renewals of existing contracts or are they only new ones?
Oh, it's a smattering of both, but primarily.
Primarily new ones, yeah. I think that's kind of it. That's a fair few questions. Thanks everyone for the questions, and I'll throw it back to David again.
I think I can say it's a really strong performance, and for us, it's about not getting ahead of yourself, staying disciplined, and just keep delivering. We're firmly focused on delivering another good year in FY 2026, but also continuing to position the company for 2027, 2028, and 2029 as well. I think you've really seen that over the journey. We're well positioned, another good year coming for 2026, but the three to five-year timer is also very strong for us as well.
Okay, thanks David.
All right, thanks everyone for ringing in.
Thank you. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.