Global growth for Perenti
NEWLY renamed Ausdrill, now Perenti Global, has gone through a massive transformation in the past 12 months, kick-started by the 2018 retirement of its founder and managing director Ron Sayers, and increasing its global reach through strategic acquisitions and an increased work book.
Perenti tripled its annual net profit to $181.3m after absorbing underground mining services group Barminco late last year in a cash and scrip deal worth $271m.
Its surface mining operations posted a 3pc rise in revenue to $746m for FY19, however its underground mining revenue – via the Barminco acquisition – jumped 24pc to $1.08b during the same period.
The company also declared a final dividend of 3.5c per share for FY19, making its full year dividend handout 7c per share.
On the back of the announcement, a subsequent surge in share price had triggered investment bank Gresham Partners to sell its $91.2m stake in Perenti, which it acquired when Ausdrill purchased Barminco last year.
Perenti managing director Mark Norwell said the results demonstrated the scale of the company transformation during the financial period.
“The conclusion of the escrow period and Gresham’s move to sell the remaining shares, post the Barminco acquisition last year, completes what has clearly been a very positive acquisition for Perenti,” Mr Norwell said.
“Barminco is a complementary business to Ausdrill, with a leading market position in underground hard rock mining that establishes the company as a more diverse group with a broader service offering sought by our customers.”
The two companies were no strangers to each other’s business services, having previously struck a number of contract deals with African-based miners such as AngloGold through joint ventures.
“We have evolved from an Australian drilling business into a global mining services company, with a workforce of more than 8000 people working at more than 50 projects across four continents,” Mr Norwell said.
“With a strong balance sheet and an order book that has grown to $7b after securing $3.4b in new and extended contracts since July 1, 2018, Perenti is well positioned for growth in FY20.”
The group said it would also target a pipeline of $8.5b of potential work across more than 40 projects that could be awarded over the next 24 months.
Mr Norwell said the ambition was in line with the company’s name change to Perenti Global, which would better reflect the group’s status as a diversified global mining services group.
“Our recent group rebrand to Perenti gives us a strong identifiable brand in the markets and a platform to grow our business in the future,” Mr Norwell said.