# BYL - Brierty Limited



## Miner (21 February 2008)

Could any one please post some feedback on BYL?
It has been recently floated with a bang. Current market cap 129,800,000 The 6 months report published yesterday. Share price has returned to issue price. Under current market, with blue chip clientele like FMG and others - why it is a lame duck? Any bad, speculative or good news on this scrip?


*Business Summary* (reported by Bell in its website and see the announcement attached) 
Brierty civil construction in Western Australia. It managed and delivered civil
construction projects for clients in transportation, mining and urban
development industries for over 25 years. Its operations centre is based in
Maddington, Western Australia, and employs approximately 400 people.
Brierty specialises in pavements for large infrastructure projects including
highways and roads, airports, car parks and pathways. It also undertakes a
wide range of civil infrastructure projects for mining including stripping
overburden, plant site works, haul roads, tailing dams and other storage
facilities. Brierty has completed selective ore and waste mining and will target
further work in the mining sector.
Briertys strong relationships with blue chip clients will enable it to capitalise
on favourable market conditions. Brierty's mining and major infrastructure
divisions are expected to continue to benefit from major iron ore expansion
plans announced by key clients including BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals
Group. The urban development and roads divisions is expected to benefit
from Western Australias future population growth and the Federal
Governments continued commitment to the AusLink roads program.


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## doctorj (22 February 2008)

Well managed little company is Brierty, but very conservative when it comes to announcements.  Quite surprised they're not discussed more widely.

According to my broker, they're starting a roadshow following their 6 month accounts, so the news flow should pick up.  I'd keep an eye out for more news tomorrow.

My only concern with them is their exposure to property development, which is obviously not the hottest sector going around at the moment.


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## doctorj (22 February 2008)

doctorj said:


> I'd keep an eye out for more news tomorrow.



Announcement out this morning as predicted.  Good announcement... but no comment on their Fortescue Metals work.  A bit of a worry given FMG is in the paper every other day about being behind schedule...  I wonder how much of that is down to Brierty.


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## Miner (23 February 2008)

Thanks Doctor J.
From memory BYL was engaged by Andrew Forrest at FMG to undertake the construction work when the other contractor failed. 
I agree with the down side of property sector. However BYL was never a big corporate player (imo) and took the advantage of coming to market when it was red chilli hot.
Many of BPS own stock brokers purchased the preferential allotment and now pushing the clients (me for example) to buy them from market. They did the same thing when it was at $1.8. It is always a worry from such ramping.

Regards


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## Miner (17 April 2008)

Hi Doctor J and others

What a day was yesterday for BYL !  slumped to 77 cents following poor market guidance and then finished at 59 cents. Today it is at 53.5  cents when the market has shot up. By the close of day it would be probably 40 cents ?  Looks like worse than ABS did .

I do not think the market guidance alone has contributed the thinly traded share but more to it. Could it be more bad news to be followed of the market guidance note ? 

PPT sold its holding in March 08. Did they already know well ahead ? 

Should I hang the BPS smart A(nalys)s(t) who recommened me to buy BYL at $1.15 only one month back ?  BPS was the lead broker for this IPO.

Ironically the Smart Analyst  said to have the same stock in his portfolio. 

Any thoughts or guidance on this company BYL please ?


Regards


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## doctorj (17 April 2008)

Miner said:


> PPT sold its holding in March 08. Did they already know well ahead ?



My screen shows PPT buying 1.38m shares on 6/3/08 - I can't see them selling any at all?

You sure?


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## Miner (17 April 2008)

doctorj said:


> My screen shows PPT buying 1.38m shares on 6/3/08 - I can't see them selling any at all?
> 
> You sure?




Extremely sorry . 

You are dead right on PPT aspect. 

I could not read the 9 and thought it was 0. They actually enhanced their share holding. In that case PPT has burnt themselves in that case with BYL gone to 46 cents and now at 48 cents !

Thanks Doctor J for keeping me on track. Just thinking of people who might have bought at $1 last month to see the share dived half.

Regards


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## reece55 (17 April 2008)

This stock is either the steal of the century, or there are problems that aren't being disclosed in their financials or forecasts....

Based on the newly announced forecast, the business is now traveling on a P/E of about 7.....

However, then reviewing their business segments, we have building construction in WA, not the best place to be in these times I would have thought....

Then, looking through the cash flows, nice profit but wow..... big build up in construction in progress of 4.7 Mil, as well as 17 Mil current interest bearing facilities. Funny thing is that the interest bearing facilities increase looks to be non cash - no increase in financing facilities per their cash flow statement...

Cheers


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## Miner (18 April 2008)

It appears to be some ball tampering case.
The directors posted market guidance on 16 April.
The movement of share price is thus

Date	             Last	          % Change	              High	  Low	Vol *
17-Apr-08	0.475	       -19.490%	             $0.59 	 $0.46 	*3,923,470*
16-Apr-08	0.59	       -41.000%	             $0.77 	 $0.55 	5,162,920
14-Apr-08	1	      -4.760%	             $1.03 	 $1.00 	47,000
9-Apr-08	              1.05	        0.000%	             $1.05 	 $1.05 	25,940
8-Apr-08 	1.05             5.000%	             $1.05 	 $1.01 	30,173

The normal volume has been 25 to 40k shares daily.
First sign was on 14 April : about 45% more trading with 5% drop price . Market knew nothing but some one knew while selling out at $1.

In three trading the price has dropped by 55% and look at the volume : 9 mill shares changed hands !!

It is more than the delayed guidance. ASIC has once again become a lame duck. Some thing seriously bad happening in the company - court case loss, contract loss (more than just reported) along with incompetency in management to manage a publicly listed company. 

Probably if someone has access to Dun and Bradstreet report could find out the recent court cases if any at all is also behind it. DB however will probably record it when every one knows about it.  I do not know if there is any litigation but the volume of unloading is frightening.

*Some one is or are buying at cheap SP *- who are they in that case ?


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## doctorj (18 April 2008)

PPT actually bought a couple of million shares over the period.  See sig holder announcement released today.


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## Trojax (19 April 2008)

Fun and games last few days, have a look at the major holders, outside the Brierty's themselves, Brierty Company and PPT there's only around 8% of stock available to the public or 8.8 million shares.. I wonder if it wasn't heavily shorted after the ann, if so those selling down would suddenly find not a lot of shares in the market when they need to cover. Monday should be very interesting.


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## reece55 (19 April 2008)

Trojax said:


> Fun and games last few days, have a look at the major holders, outside the Brierty's themselves, Brierty Company and PPT there's only around 8% of stock available to the public or 8.8 million shares.. I wonder if it wasn't heavily shorted after the ann, if so those selling down would suddenly find not a lot of shares in the market when they need to cover. Monday should be very interesting.




Trojax..... BYL is not a shortable stock on the ASX.... so there won't be short sellers covering on Monday mate....

It is tightly held, so I guess a lot of the volatility is probably to do with the lack of institutional shareholders (except for PPT) trading in the stock, meaning that the trade would be retail dominated (not a good thing.)...

Cheers


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## countryboy (20 April 2008)

saturdays financial review  has directors and Perpetual buying up shares over the last few days.Perpetual -700,000 shares at 60c on wed raising its stake to 10.16 %.Directors bought some 2 million shares
quote -missing prospectus forecasts was a cardinal sin

one to watch for a bounce


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## Trojax (21 April 2008)

reece55 said:


> Trojax..... BYL is not a shortable stock on the ASX.... so there won't be short sellers covering on Monday mate....
> 
> It is tightly held, so I guess a lot of the volatility is probably to do with the lack of institutional shareholders (except for PPT) trading in the stock, meaning that the trade would be retail dominated (not a good thing.)...
> 
> Cheers




Not unless it was loaned off market..check the drop on the ann and the trades t+2 from then, smells fishy to me, Monday will be interesting, see how it pans


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## Trojax (21 April 2008)

countryboy said:


> saturdays financial review  has directors and Perpetual buying up shares over the last few days.Perpetual -700,000 shares at 60c on wed raising its stake to 10.16 %.Directors bought some 2 million shares
> quote -missing prospectus forecasts was a cardinal sin
> 
> one to watch for a bounce




You mean PPT, added not minus hehe. I know full well liquidity is an issue, however regardless, the price doesn't reflect value IMO, this stock is damn cheap, come what may, I think overall, at this price point given projects on hand and regardless of the profit downgrade IMO SP oversold massively, this is a great LT hold (I'm not a day trader). Proof will wash out but need a little time to come to fruition. This is an outperformer from late 08 into mid 09, triple bagger over 6-12 months IMO as new projects come on board with the review on internal costing. DYOR though. In the current, watch her rise monday I'm thinking around 60c on high, close around 58c.. sfa media or forum coverage on this stock, but will be soon


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## Miner (21 April 2008)

With DJ shot up on Friday general trend at ASX will be up on Monday.
Probably BYL has seen its bottom on Thursday in that case.

Cheers


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## Miner (21 April 2008)

Good morning all BYL enthusiastics

It has been irony when lot of normal share holders got shock in share price slide some people saw the opportunity. Mr and Mrs Brierty took another parcel of shares at about half the issue price along with PPT.

That means the share becomes less available for trading and more tightly held. 

Obviously with demand and supply gap and better market confidence BYL will rise up today. But the question remains on the ethical behavious of Brierty directors on misleading the market or not informing on time correctly.

Reading the Latest email from Joe Blow : 
Disclosure  : I do hold a very small lot of BYL shares (that makes me look an idiot here with the price I paid to acquire it).

Cheers


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## Trojax (21 April 2008)

Hey Miner, it sure does well, smell for anyone who bought in at the float...not me though, I got in at 59c so *shrugs shoulders* feel sorry for those who did, but it's a tough market at the moment all round. Swings and merry go rounds as they say.

It's ironic, however they and PPT could have not bought the stock up then the SP would have dropped significantly further, so in a way they have put their money where their mouth is and backed the company. It's just unfortunate , in any other situation directors doing this would be seen as doing the right thing. In essence, damned if they did, damned if they don't. Sentiment aside you have to admire their business acumen and nous picking the base and throwing their money into it to prop it up. Business is business, you know there's only 4% or so shares now publicly available! 

(Btw someone above said BYL wasn't available for shorting.. does that cover foreign hedge funds 'loaning' off market if PPT were into that?..)


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## Miner (21 April 2008)

Trojax said:


> Hey Miner, it sure does well, smell for anyone who bought in at the float...not me though, I got in at 59c so *shrugs shoulders* feel sorry for those who did, but it's a tough market at the moment all round. Swings and merry go rounds as they say.
> 
> It's ironic, however they and PPT could have not bought the stock up then the SP would have dropped significantly further, so in a way they have put their money where their mouth is and backed the company. It's just unfortunate , in any other situation directors doing this would be seen as doing the right thing. In essence, damned if they did, damned if they don't. Sentiment aside you have to admire their business acumen and nous picking the base and throwing their money into it to prop it up. Business is business, you know there's only 4% or so shares now publicly available!
> 
> (Btw someone above said BYL wasn't available for shorting.. does that cover foreign hedge funds 'loaning' off market if PPT were into that?..)





Good point Trojax and I accept the fact and rationale behind your post.
I need to be a philosopher now as finance does not seem to be my strong area now


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## Trojax (23 April 2008)

Miner said:


> Good point Trojax and I accept the fact and rationale behind your post.
> I need to be a philosopher now as finance does not seem to be my strong area now




I'm not worried, if their intending to reprivatize they'll need to buy back at a pretty nice rate the outstanding remaining holders, and if they want to play funny buggers with the SP to drive up their net worth so be it, good for us 

Either way now most shares are tied up, and since their in the drivers seat I believe it'll either go up LT or be a buy out back to repriv., think will earn a few quid long term on this one, if there is a claw back on the cards its around 4%, keep in mind the company owns nearly 50% of itself, so a 4% own is more like 6% equity in asset, the more thats sucked up, the more the unofficial worth to holders in equity


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## hangseng (16 May 2008)

With so much forward order work on their books and growing, Brierty will be advancing strongly once project delays are sorted out.

MND and others had exactly the same problem not so long ago and it is a common problem with resources construction service contractors. The huge demand for civils contractors in resources construction will see BYL doing very well in the short and long term.

Excellent management and contractor who will continue to be on the priority tender list of projects in the pipeline in WA. Just wait until they start to spread their wings. The exposure to the residential market will mean zip as they are smart enough and good enough to be right in amongst the massive amount of resources construction work pending in WA alone.

Note: 
The project delays are not due to Brierty and this will be resolved. Also noted is they continue to win contracts.

No wonder the directors have been buying so much at these levels. A company I am more than pleased to have joined them and taken a postion at this level.


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## Miner (27 May 2008)

What a day for BYL today . 

A sincere business man but with sheer incompetency to run a publicly listed company like BYL could be the classic case study for MBA  students,  the analysts and share investors. 

This is probably a tragic case of a company fall out worse than any one's speculation. BYL dropped to 25 cents today from 46 cents in one month's time. However honesty prevails and Mr Brierty accepted his lack of capability (probably too late) as the CEO and stepped down. 

Unfortunately no one in the chair situation  does not solve the problem but aggrevates it. 

Lack of leadeship would probably see BYL  losing few future contracts. 

Hopefully the key players do not leave teh organisation or there could be some key bad players who made the collapse happen - what about finance guys, operations managers, the board and financial analysts who underwritten the IPO ?

Ironically Mr Brierty once again made a heavy investment only a couple of weeks back . He has been a believer, an honest person, courageous in his actions.  

I honestly wish him  and BYL shareholders all the good luck.


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## hangseng (31 May 2008)

To say I made a mistake in my assessment of BYL would be an understatement. The latest debacle is a sign of hidden systemic problems in project and contract management. 

I have survived this train wreck and managed to get out unscathed thankfully. Lesson learnt, classic case of smoke and mirrors at the expense of shareholders. No more for me regardless of forward order work.


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## countryboy (31 May 2008)

I dont see it as a mistake...given the info you were presented with BYL was an attractive investment.

Given its basement price at present and the Federal gov, budget commitment to 20 billion in infrastructure I thinkd BYL could be a good investment for the next 3 years or so. If BYL was to double its SP in the next 3 years thats a super return on your money. I believe thats a realistic proposition.


I think we are all a bit too greedy after the last 3/4 years  of continual growth.


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## springhill (18 August 2010)

Revisiting the BYL thread after reading they have picked up a $10m contract with GBG, for the Karara Project.
http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20100818/pdf/31ryt5c62jws1k.pdf
This contract follows the recently awarded Mount Gibson IO Project, worth $18m
http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20100504/pdf/31q51v0r32bxc6.pdf
Also securing 4 new contracts, worth $25m. 3 of the contracts are with Landcorp, fast tracking development of industrial land in the Pilbara. Fourth contract is with LWP Property Group for first stage development of Trinity Alkimos, a residential development 15km north of Joondalup.
http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20100618/pdf/31qwn21twptgg8.pdf

BYL is also the developer of the Bellamark land development at Palmerston, NT, marketing 678 residential lots over 5 years.
http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20100429/pdf/31q1cbskqshkgk.pdf

Don't really know alot about this company but seems they has been a bit of management turmoil over the years, including recently, with the resignation of the CEO, Steve Crofts.
http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20100811/pdf/31rtj6mps6n6nj.pdf

Finally, BYL have an investor presentation, which details more of their current activities.
http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20100301/pdf/31p02n307vn8l0.pdf

Currently sitting at near 12mth lows. Low of 22c/Current 26c.

Seem to have money and contracts coming in. Any thoughts?


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## tinhat (6 February 2013)

This company has come up on my screens. Mining, Civil construction, Housing development, seems to be entirely WA focused.

Some observations after just looking at the last full year results investor presentation:

- They have doubled their workforce over the past year and 30% of those recruited were aboriginal.
- They seem to be relying on work at Roy Hill and are doing a lot for FMG. Is Roy Hill going to happen?
- Although exposed to mining construction, they do seem to do a lot of civil construction for private and public (WA main roads) so potential to win royalties for regions tenders.
- They've spent a truck load on trucks both last year and this FY. They seems to be building up a big fleet of civil construction vehicles.
- They are towards the end of a housing development in the NT (Darwin?) with most dwellings sold.

I'm going to look into this company further. They seem to have both upside potential but downside risk from having grown so much and the risky outlook for mining construction. I also noticed mention of a joint venture to take on bigger contracts - don't know the details - but, hmmm, after FGE and Clough...

Is anyone holding or watching? Does anyone have more insight into this company? Reuters-Thomspon consensus data contains only one analyst.

From their website I found this Euroz analysis:
http://brierty.com.au/images/Documents/Third Party Research/Weekly_Informer_Aug12.pdf

Actually Euroz seem to follow them quit a bit, seem bullish on them.

Belll potter research is 12 months old
http://brierty.com.au/images/Documents/Third Party Research/Bell_Potter_Feb12.pdf

sorry if this is a bit vague but I've got to go to bed. will read more tomorrow.

Springhill, have you maintained an interest in the co?


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## springhill (6 February 2013)

tinhat said:


> Springhill, have you maintained an interest in the co?




I have not kept a close eye on them for the majority of the time since my last post, but I have started to increase my interest (not financial) in them over the last couple of months. BYL keep popping up in the media and a few announcements have caught my eye recently.

Interest in the activities of BYL is increasing from my end.


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## trillionaire#1 (6 February 2013)

I added BYL to my portfolio in december  and already have solid gains.
However it has been struggling to break clear of the 40 cent mark.Fingers crossed for a breakout.
A good dividend here as well!


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## tinhat (16 February 2013)

I bought on 16/2/13 @ $0.40.  I've bought about half the position I'm willing to take. Will see which way it goes. It became a buy for me at $0.34 at the beginning of the month but I didn't have the funds available. So, I aim to ride it up in the ST/MT and either take profit or take back my capital and leave my profits (if any) for a free carry into the LT. They've ramped up in terms of capital and personnel. Let's see if they can sustain their growth.


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## adds4 (19 February 2013)

unbelieveable result from byl, a company that has a pe of just 4. Yes 4. Have to be the most undervalued stock on the market by a country mile. Fge had a pe of 4 at 3.50, look at its price now?

Byl had revenue increase by 41%, profit increase by 29%, dividend increase by 25%. Dividend yeild is 7%. Net assets are 49m (excluding intangibles, which there are none) or 45 cents a share. Cash at bank of 16m. Low debt of 40m, all of the debt is hire purchases of equipment, so really the company is debt free. 

All for only 40 cents, or pe of 4, and what makes it worse is the last three half yrs, profits and revenue have increased by atleast 20 per cent every half.

Diversified income steam, from three divisions - civil, mining, and land development. 

Dividend of 1.25 cents per share for the half

One word - bargin


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## skc (19 February 2013)

adds4 said:


> unbelieveable result from byl, a company that has a pe of just 4. Yes 4. Have to be the most undervalued stock on the market by a country mile. Fge had a pe of 4 at 3.50, look at its price now?
> 
> Byl had revenue increase by 41%, profit increase by 29%, dividend increase by 25%. Dividend yeild is 7%. Net assets are 49m (excluding intangibles, which there are none) or 45 cents a share. Cash at bank of 16m. Low debt of 40m, all of the debt is hire purchases of equipment, so really the company is debt free.
> 
> ...




True. The order book however appears weak. They do ~$300m revenue a year yet FY14 order book is only $82.3m. So the FY14 earning visibility is low. A few large and longer term project wins should see them propelled forward.


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## adds4 (19 February 2013)

skc said:


> True. The order book however appears weak. They do ~$300m revenue a year yet FY14 order book is only $82.3m. So the FY14 earning visibility is low. A few large and longer term project wins should see them propelled forward.




They have a 219m order book in total. The civil division does alot of smaller contracts, that are continually rolled over once work has been competed. E.g like road contracts, perth airport,and land development in perth and darwin, where work is award in stages. Thats why the order book looks weak. The mining services division, is weak because of fmg cancelling, and now retendering contracts for its expansion, which im sure byl will win some, because of byls strong workforce of indigenious people, of which fmg is actively looking for.

BYL has had the same issues in the past with regard to its order book, and has still increased revenue and profit. The only problem they had was in 2010, and that was from a couple of unprofitable contracts, which byl has learned from, and now every single contract this half yr has been profitable.

Margins have appeared to slip a little, but every mining service company has had that happen.


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## tinhat (19 February 2013)

I've just gone over the numbers in the report a bit and one thing about the results is that the margins are still very tight. The total group profit margin (profit before tax/revenue) is 5.2%, down slightly on the Full year 2012 result of 5.4%.

The main group expenses are administrative overheads of $6m for the half and depreciation of $5.7m for the half.

These very tight margins (and a previous history of problems with margins on contracts) may account for why the stock is priced at a low PE and is at around NTA per share.

Here are some business unit figures I threw together. Figures are expressed in millions of dollars:


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## adds4 (20 February 2013)

management cant complain us shareholders arent paying them enough. They make more than shareholders. 9m in admin costs, which no doubt a big chuck is for management, and 5m after tax for shareholders. This is only for 6 months 

On page two of the financial report says adminstration expenses are 9.2m. On page 10 of the segment information it says adminstration expense is 5.9m. Is the 3.3m difference the company gives to directors? Odd. 

Gross margin was infact 12% (sales 148m divided by gross margin on sales of 18m)

After taking into account admin of 9.2m and finance of 1.7m. 

The profit from continuing operations before income tax is 7.7m, or a margin of 5.2%.

As you can see the company does make the margins, just mangers and admin expenses are high for a company this size. Pretty easy for someone to come in and trim the fat, and increase the profit for shareholders


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## tinhat (20 February 2013)

adds4,

Although I didn't express it as eloquently as you, that's what I wanted to look at by working out the margins before tax for each business unit. They look OK until you add in the group overheads.

My conclusion from looking at those numbers is that the the first figure you mention of $9.3 million (page 4) is for total group "Administration expenses, excluding finance costs" and that the $6 million of "Administration overheads" on page 10 are the corporate level administration costs which have not been attributed to "operating segments" of the business. It's hard to know for sure because there isn't any breakdown given of costs attributed directly to the business units.

Looking at the 2012 report total director and key executive pay was around $4 million (up from around $3 million for 2011).

I just went back through the 2012 annual report and this half year report to see if I could find any mention about goals or strategies to cut corporate overhead but there is not which is a little disappointing.


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## adds4 (1 March 2013)

Amazing no one tries to take over the company, i know the  Brierty family own around 40 per cent, but a mining services company could pay a premium to the share price, because it would be easy to strip 5m in admin costs out of byl. Then the margins dont look that bad for the acquiring company, and most likely be very earnings accerative too


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## adds4 (11 March 2013)

byl got there contract with atlas iron. 15m for 3 months work, to build a 60km rd. Be interesting to see if byl can leverage off this contract and get some more work from atlas. The civil division is looking really strong. 

Byl have definately developed that niche market of having good quality equipment and personel, for short term contracts, at short notice.


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## CairnsBirdwing (9 April 2013)

Agree with Adds. I hold BYL because I think this company is ripe for a takeover and subsequent trimming of inefficiencies in management.


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## Pioupiou (25 August 2013)

Some months ago there was a flurry of interest in BYL, and some quality posts from the likes of Tinhat and Adds4, especially on the matter of the high so-called Administration expense.

The recently published full year result was good, plus there are a few themes that bode well for BYL's 2013/14 financial year.  However, the Administration issue remains.  I am stuffed if I can understand why BYL has such a high admin expense, and I certainly do not know what is debited thereto.  The high (relative to net profit and dividends paid) executive remuneration is only part of the story.

Ignoring reasonable changes to expense categories, in round terms BYL increased Gross Profit by $5 million, and Administration by $4 million to increase net profit by $1 million.  Why should an earth-moving company need such a high Administration expense, even if the word is stretched to cover Sales (tendering) and the like?

Anyhow, on the basis of a low PER, I bought 50,000 on 14/08/2014 at 30 cents.  If some semi-competent manager comes in and lops a few million of that Administration cost, BYL could increase both its EPS and dividend pay-out ratio, and serve my interests well.

Any views on that so-called Administration expense?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - FY 2013 - - - - - - FY 2012
Revenue from services and land sales - - -- - $292,416,142 - - $252,305,246
Cost of services and sales - - - - - - - - - - - ($254,837,140) - ($219,616,247)
Gross margin on services & land sales - - - - - $37,579,002 - - - $32,688,999
Other income - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - $402,548 - - - - - $298,532
Administration expenses, excl finance costs - ($19,977,546) -- ($15,970,117)
Finance costs - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ($3,362,738) - - ($3,406,769)
Profit - continuing operations before tax- - - - -$14,641,266 - -- $13,610,645
Income tax expense - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - ($4,430,117) - -- ($4,168,171)
Profit after income tax   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - $10,211,149 - - - - $9,442,474


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## Country Lad (25 August 2013)

At least the market liked the results.  I was going to compare some of the costs/revenue with those of SWL but unfortunately, SWL have not reported yet.

Cheers
Country Lad


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## skc (25 August 2013)

Pioupiou said:


> Any views on that so-called Administration expense?
> 
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - FY 2013 - - - - - - FY 2012
> Revenue from services and land sales - - -- - $292,416,142 - - $252,305,246
> ...




I am assuming it's not in the notes to the account?! 

Admin can mean different things to different companies even in the same sector, so it's quite hard to compared like-for-like. One can safely assume that executive salaries are involved, but given the large figure, I wonder if some sort of project admin is included... and one might question why they are not simply part of cost of services and sales. 

Pure speculation only as I have neither read the report in detail or know the company well enough to say.... I did take a trade on the release of the report however.


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## Ves (25 August 2013)

Disclaimer;  don't hold and don't plan to,  so haven't put much effort into decoding the statements:

The administration expenses most likely include the following:

Depreciation & Amortisation  -  $12.586 mil (see notes bottom of page 59 of AR)
Rental expenses - $1.372 mil (page 61 of AR)
Directors & key management personnel wages - $2.717m (page 34 of AR)

Unsure of difference.  But probably some of the wages & super relate to head office personnel that do not come under directors or key management.   Possibly advertising and other sundry items.

Could be wrong, but hope it helps you guys find the answer.


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## craft (25 August 2013)

This is my data suppliers breakdown.


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## Pioupiou (25 August 2013)

Ves said:


> Disclaimer;  don't hold and don't plan to,  so haven't put much effort into decoding the statements:
> 
> The administration expenses most likely include the following:
> 
> ...




I think you are substantially right, because by including depreciation of equipment, the large number and the significant increase in one year is understandable.  BYL holds equipment as a head office asset, so it may simply treat depreciation as a head office expense, and for some mental quirk or other calls it Administration, which is semantically sloppy.


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## crazymofo (5 November 2013)

Fist time poster it seems like a decent buy at the moment with the stock market over all industries being down.  Possibly a good keeper for the next couple of years on the figures released it can not go any lower bar a catastrophic event.

Market Cap is 37.4 Mil based on 35 cent share price Net assets are 52.5 Million and have increased by about 8 Million from FY12 to 13 with the net debt up by 2.5 to 3 Mil over the same time, it looks like these guys are either hammering their debt or financing more than half of their new assets out of their own pocket instead of just getting into more debt and forcing up their financing costs.

Downside is that these guys have not broken into the market in anywhere other than Western Australia (aside from the NT with the single job), this is an assumption because I have not seen any releases for any further work gained in NT or anywhere outside WA.

Another note is EPS 9.28 cents with a share price at 35 cents.  Thems some good numbers.

If the market doesn't react to this the directors should consider buy back maybe allocate a couple of Mil for the first year $2 million should be enough to drive up the share price high enough and attract some attention that is if $2mil of shares can actually be traded in this company it seems that everyone that has them is holding them, the daily volume trades are miniscule.


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## Pioupiou (10 November 2013)

Hi Crazymofo

An excellent effort for a first-time poster.  This site is in dire need of good posters.

BYL is certainly a good keeper, which by definition means we holders should not be concerned if the SP drops, as long as the long-term EPS and DPS holds (fluctuations about an upward trend line are tolerable).  BYL is tightly held and lightly traded, so small selling pressure can easily reduce the SP for a while.  If one buys BYL for a short-term trade, then the thinking is different to the one mooted in my response to your post.  

If any one of the top twenty shareholders wanted to exit, that would suffice to reduce the SP, but not the intrinsic value of the BYL shares. One cannot read much into such selling – there are many reasons why a shareholding may be liquidated – estate wind-ups, divorce settlements, portfolio balancing and other needs for cash (e.g., pay tax and acquire something at a bargain, to mention two).  Currently, it seems to me that a large holder wants to sell, because one often sees a large parcel for sale (say 60,000 shares), and when it sells, a similar parcel pops to the fore at the same SP.  In time this selling will exhaust itself.

On the matter of debt, BYL has no corporate debt – its debt relates to hire-purchased equipment, perhaps with some performance-bond debt.  If BYL can keep the equipment busy, there is no problem, and if it cannot, the problem may take the shine of BYL for a few years, but it will not destroy it.  The punt is, will BYL find the work to keep its equipment and employees busy, or will it not, so that is what should exercise the minds of shareholders and would-be shareholders.  

One man's downside is another man's upside.  BYL is a small company (about 10% the size of NWH), so if its activities were spread over a larger geography, that would be an EPS detraction.  BYL has comparative strength in WA and the NT, so the best interests of its shareholders is served if it concentrates on those markets.  This allows it to optimise the strong relationships (customers, potential customers and synergistic relationships with other business entities including JVs with Indigenous groups) that BYL has in these areas, and it allows equipment and staff to be redeployed from job to job more easily than would be the case if its activities were more geographically dispersed.  If after the wind-down of the Bellamack project, BYL finds staying in the NT less attractive than focusing on WA, then withdrawing to focus on WA makes sense.  Bellamack was not very profitable, so I see its wind-down as a positive.

On driving the SP up, I am tempted to think that the directors are more focussed on BYL's business performance than its short-term SP trajectory.  As a long-term holder of what is a high-yield dividend payer, I am happy with that approach.  Preservation of a sustainable dividend stream is all I ask management to focus on, and in the long-term that will dictate the SP.  The words “sustainable dividend” implies an upward trending (glitches allowed) long-term EPS, plus a healthy balance sheet.

As for your “Thems some good numbers” the focus should be on the long-term sustainability of the EPS and DPS.  Good numbers today followed by poor numbers in future would not be good.


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## Pioupiou (12 November 2013)

Much to my joy, the SP dropped to 33.5 cents today, and as I was a bit light on BYL, and some funds fell out of the sky, I bought 100,000 to bring my personal (non-SMSF) holding to 150,000, which is where I am inclined to leave it, other things being equal.  If my view of BYL's business outlook changes, or its SP does, then I'll review this hold-the-shares attitude.  In essence, I like to focus on the business, and think about the SP within that framework.  

For now I regard BYL as worth 50 cents, although I have forgotten how I invented that number some months ago (all I know is that nothing has changed since then).  I think it will perform better than its current Thomson Consensus Estimates, which are:  

- - - 2013 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016
EPS - 9.3 - - 7.8 - - 8.5 - - 7.3
DPS - 3.0 - - 3.1 - - 3.8 - - 3.3

I am stuffed if I know how the gurus who came up with these metrics derived their numbers.  The latest valuation of which I am aware is that of Bell Potter dated February 2013, and its valuation was 70 cents - see http://www.brierty.com.au/files/Bell_Potter_Research_Note_Feb_13.pdf.  Again, I am stuffed if I know how they guesstimated that, but it seems a tad toppy to me.  Now that I own more BYL, I should invest time getting a feel for its reasonably-likely EPS and DPS trajectories.


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## Ian (15 November 2013)

Liquidity is a concern for me with BYL. 
Similarly it is a concern for me with TWD. 
Both are companies I find impressive enough to invest in but lack of liquidity prevents me in both cases. 
Too much stock in too few hands. 
IMO it leaves the stocks open to manipulation and presents too many possible restrictions.


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## skc (15 November 2013)

Ian said:


> Liquidity is a concern for me with BYL.
> Similarly it is a concern for me with TWD.
> Both are companies I find impressive enough to invest in but lack of liquidity prevents me in both cases.
> Too much stock in too few hands.
> IMO it leaves the stocks open to manipulation and presents too many possible restrictions.




+1.  Although I am not too concerned about manipulation. I am simply concerned that if things go wrong there's no exit. Having said that when things go right it can rise quickly as well.


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## Ian (15 November 2013)

skc said:


> +1.  Although I am not too concerned about manipulation. I am simply concerned that if things go wrong there's no exit. Having said that when things go right it can rise quickly as well.




Skc, 
I suppose that is really what I mean. There are no shortage of days when a total days volume is less than (and sometimes substantially less) than 100,000 in total. Even a roaring day would be 250,000. 
If you held 100~200k and needed a quick exit for any reason it's possible there may be problems. 
The prospect of manipulation is a lesser probability but I do recall a few years ago someone did play games with TWD (a stock of similar potential to me) and anyone who watched what happened over a period of time could see the pattern and I kept out of it. The fact is however history proves that if I had entered that stock it would have gone well for me but it's easy to see in hindsight and what we have to do is plan for the future.
Both look to me like ideal 'set and forget' stocks but these days I increasingly feel the need to be cautious about that. I am a long term investor but I hope not to become forgetful.


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## Pioupiou (16 November 2013)

Low liquidity and the tightly-held majority of BYL's stock are negatives, which is why it often popped to the fore when I was trawling for value, but I did not buy.  When I put that restriction aside and I looked seriously at BYL, part of the process was to compare it to similar stocks, MLD and NWH, and in the process I decided to drop BYL and run with NWH.  However, I continued to look at BYL, and the more I looked, the more I liked it, so I bought in later, and have upped my stake a few times since (bought 100,000 earlier this week - Monday, 11/11/2013).

On the matter of illiquidity, I decided that if BYL represented no more than 5% of my total portfolio, and I needed funds, then I had other investments that I could sell for that purpose.  This limits my exposure to a situation where I want to get out because I no longer want to be invested in BYL for reasons of its business performance.  This is a gamble that I am prepared to take.  As a long-term investor, the SP gyrations that are possible if any one of the top-20 shareholders wanted out, do not concern me.  If the fully-franked DPS rises in two or three years to 5 cents, those who bought in at below 40 cents would be getting a sufficient yield to allow them to sit on BYL for a long time (years).

Apart from the dividend yield, what are the possible upsides to BYL shareholders?  The obvious one is an amicable takeover at a premium SP.  It has to be amicable, because Alan Brierty and his wife own about half of BYL, so their co-operation is a sine qua non (without which nothing).  Alan is no longer a young man, and so there are estate-planning and other reasons why he and his wife may be willing to exit BYL if a suitable suitor could be found.  BYL is a small company, so it would be a digestible bolt-on for the likes of MLD or NWH.  An LBO involving the current management is also a possibility.  One does not buy a stock based on such flimsy musings, but in BYL's case the dividend yield can be sufficient justification, and these other potential upsides are merely possible cherries on the cake.  Of course, a fertile imagination could easily invent a few bitter pills too.


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## adds4 (9 February 2014)

The company has won quite a few small civil/land development contracts the last month and half. Its good to see, they will replace the lost revenue from the mining division, from the karara contract going back to normal operations,, from the acceleration that is going on in the first half. Looks like second half revenue could increase, and infact this yr, revenue could be similar to 2013, or even be better, even though the company has mentioned revenue could drop in 2014.

The half yr result is in a couple weeks, and the guidance we get from that will indicate where the share price will go. For me I believe the first half of 2014, will be the same as 2013 in revenue and profit, and if so I believe the directors will increase the interim dividend to 1.5 cents.

For me the company needs to look at acquisitions in the civil/land development area, for me a quite defensive area, instead of chasing a mining services company. And for me, they need to expand geographically too. The most obvious would be to expand into SA, and try and buy a company like LRM pty ltd, who do civil work for national companies for devine, lend lease and SA government. M and B civil, P.d excavations, tron civil contracting are others the company could look at.


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## Pioupiou (2 May 2014)

The $300 million RIO deal announced late 1/05/2014 is significant IMO, especially as it must ramp up quickly, and just when the Karara deal was nearing its end.  The RIO deal is for four and a half years, so that makes it $66 million a year - a big deal for a $40 million market capitalisation company.  That helps to underpin earnings until about December 2018.  BYL routinely picks up small civil works contracts, and the odd larger contract like the Zoccoli Phase 2 housing estate in the NT, so its EPS and DPS are fairly secure.  I'll probably sit on it for years and garner the double digit yield that its dividend and franking credits give me on my buy-in price of circa 35 cents.


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## Pioupiou (15 July 2014)

With the flow of time, BYL has improved as an investment stock.  It secures many small contracts, about two a month on average, and it gets a lot of repeat business.  In a recent announcement pertaining to BYL's 19th contract from Perth Airport, a $17 million contract to construct the new Airport Drive and associated infrastructure at Perth Airport, BYL stated, "Following this contract award, Brierty has work in hand of approximately $570 million of which $250 million relates to work secured for the 2015 Financial Year." $570M is over ten times BYL's equity, and over eleven times its market capitalisation of $.45 x 110 million = $49.5.

I have over the year shifted from regarding my investment in BYL as a punt in my personal portfolio to regarding it as an SMSF-quality investment, and hurled funds at it.  I now hold 460,000 BYL in my SMSF, and 200,000 personally. I may sell some held personally if I need the funds, but in the interest of balance, I am more likely to sell TGA shares that I hold in my personal portfolio, and of which I hold many.

I value BYL now at about 60 cents, 10 cents more than a year ago.  I expect DPS to be 3 cents for FY2014, but maybe more, and 4 cents in FY2015.  My average buy price for the shares in my personal portfolio is 34 cents, and it is 39.2 cents for the SMSF portfolio.  The SP closed today at 45 cents, and I think it will dribble up to 50 cents as we get closer to the Annual Report that is published on 20 August, or soon thereafter.  I'll probably sit on BYL for years - that's my yield-focused investing style.  SP appreciation is the icing on the cake. 

Check out BYL's webpage to see the long list of contracts secured - 28 contracts in FY2014.


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## agumby (17 July 2014)

Pioupiou said:


> With the flow of time, BYL has improved as an investment stock.
> 
> I have over the year shifted from regarding my investment in BYL as a punt in my personal portfolio to regarding it as an SMSF-quality investment, and hurled funds at it.  I now hold 460,000 BYL in my SMSF, and 200,000 personally. I may sell some held personally if I need the funds,
> 
> ...




The market seems to agree after BYL's update to the market today, now trading at the over 50 cent range, glad i picked some up for my wifes portfolio earlier in the year at the 37 cent range but nowhere near as many as you, well done


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## agumby (10 September 2014)

nice

Diversified contractor Brierty Limited (ASX: BYL) is pleased to announce its Board of Directors has declared 
a fully franked Special Dividend of 8.0 cents per share. 

The Brierty Board has resolved to raise up to $8.25 million by way of a special Placement to institutional 
investors and high net worth individuals. 
Under the Placement, 16,500,000 million shares will be issued at $0.50 to institutional and sophisticated 
investor clients of Bell Potter Securities Limited and Hartleys Limited.

The record date for the Special Dividend is 8 October 2014 and is payable on 20 October 2014.


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## skc (10 September 2014)

agumby said:


> nice
> 
> Diversified contractor Brierty Limited (ASX: BYL) is pleased to announce its Board of Directors has declared
> a fully franked Special Dividend of 8.0 cents per share.
> ...




Placing shares @ 50c and those new shares include the 8c special franked dividend. That's a pretty good deal for the sophisticated investor!


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## Miner (10 September 2014)

skc said:


> Placing shares @ 50c and those new shares include the 8c special franked dividend. That's a pretty good deal for the sophisticated investor!




Indeed it is an excellent deal for SI who also are with Hartleys and Bell Potter. It is one way of saying thanks to them because of their heavy pumping on BYL when it was at $2 . It went down to 30 cents and so many restructure. Irony is the SI of those brokers will get the shares below 42 cents against market rate of 64 cents. 50 cents placement plus special dividend 8 cents. They gave nothing to long holders who are not SI nor with Hartleys and BP.
Any one invests now with special dividend still due until early Oct will basically be buying it a much higher price than those SI any way. Good for some and Bad for some


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## systematic (24 March 2015)

Just doing a fun scan for value and then a little further analysis...and BYL came up as what looks like a potentially excellent value stock.  Current price 0.40


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## Huskar (24 March 2015)

systematic said:


> Just doing a fun scan for value and then a little further analysis...and BYL came up as what looks like a potentially excellent value stock.  Current price 0.40




Yes Forager Funds has been pushing it too. Question as is often the case - will E decrease or P increase to normalise P/E?


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## garrymc5 (7 May 2015)

*Brierley (BYL)*

I've made 87% on this stock over the last year, and it's yield  is over 10%. So you know that it is disliked! Brierley is usually labeled a 'Mining Services' stock, but this is only half right. 50% of its income comes from Land development in the Darwin area (growth area) and roads and infrastructure in WA. 

Yesterday, that piece of **** Abbott gave $500m to his LNP mate (WA premier) to shore him up, and shore himself up as a failed Minister for Infrastructure. The good news is that BYL regularly gets a share of WA roads and infrastructure spending, and some of that $500 will go into BYL.

For three years, it's has been priced for failure, but each time its earnings stay around 8 or 9 cents pa. Its cash flow is even better.

What failure? After 2 plus years, it won a $300m contract with Rio. From amongst miners, that's got to be the best place to win a contract (lowest cost iron ore producer). On top, it has won further contracts in roads and airport developments. With the WA govt's $500m windfall, this is good news for BYL, who are already fully contracted, and looking at their best year so far.

Current price: 38c. Net Tangible Asset, approx 50 cents. Show me something better.


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## tech/a (7 May 2015)

Show me how you made 87% on
A stock which has fallen for the
Best part of a year.

Other than shorting?


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## Klogg (7 May 2015)

tech/a said:


> Show me how you made 87% on
> A stock which has fallen for the
> Best part of a year.
> 
> Other than shorting?




Probably bought back in mid 2013. Add the dividends and capital return and 87% is very likely.


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## System (19 February 2018)

On February 16th, 2018, Brierty Limited (BYL) was removed from the ASX's official list at the request of the company, in accordance with Listing Rule 17.11.


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## Miner (19 February 2018)

System said:


> On February 16th, 2018, Brierty Limited (BYL) was removed from the ASX's official list at the request of the company, in accordance with Listing Rule 17.11.



Does any one know what is the status of those shreholders ?
Any money coming ?


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## greggles (19 February 2018)

Miner said:


> Does any one know what is the status of those shreholders ?
> Any money coming ?



Doesn't look like it unfortunately. A sad end to BYL.


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