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ACF - Acrow Limited

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I just look at the borrowings and the equity on the balance sheet in the Annual Report.

I dont think there is any risk of total loss!

Its purely a filter I use, there are plenty of investors who think I am mad for having a hard rule on debt. I still find enough quality businesses to own part of, and I sleep better at night!

Its in no way a criticism of your investment process, just explaining why I didn't take a position in a business I otherwise like.
 
galumay said:
I just look at the borrowings and the equity on the balance sheet in the Annual Report.

I dont think there is any risk of total loss!

Its purely a filter I use, there are plenty of investors who think I am mad for having a hard rule on debt. I still find enough quality businesses to own part of, and I sleep better at night!

Its in no way a criticism of your investment process, just explaining why I didn't take a position in a business I otherwise like.
Click to expand...

i normally avoid high D/E companies as well , so no , if you have better discipline than me , all i can be is slightly jealous ( my sleep patterns are already rubbish , but that was before i started investing .. means i am looking at unlikely places in unusual times , not totally bad , but ... )

but given the current climate a total loss ( except MAYBE 'the big 4 ' banks ) is always possible

we already have a wave of 'incredible shrinking companies 'at the top end of town , and the financiers can make the life of small companies a total living hell , at whim ( i have seen them do similar to farmers in the past )

good luck , i still feel like i need to force growth , so take on that little extra risk

cheers
 
Acrow upgrades prior strong FY22 earnings guidance on robust 3Q22 performance

Key Highlights:
• Acrow upgrades its FY22 earnings guidance, as the Company continues to leverage off strong Australian
construction markets, especially in the Civil Infrastructure sector
• FY22 underlying NPAT of $16.3-17.3m is now expected, at the mid-point up 93% on the previous corresponding
period (PCP)
• This strong profit guidance is premised on forecast FY22 revenue of $144-147m, which at the midpoint is 37%
above PCP
• March 2022 quarter (3Q22) hire revenue of $13.9m was a record quarterly result
• Acrow continues to win significant new work on marque projects, including the Cross River Rail, Melbourne Metro,
Bruce Highway, Melbourne Western Distributor and Snowy Hydro 2
• Aided by Acrow’s strong contract book and pipeline, the Company successfully negotiated a $7.5m increase in its
existing Equipment Finance facility with Westpac.
Acrow Formwork and Construction Services Limited (ASX: ACF) (‘Acrow’ or ‘the Company’), a leading provider of
engineered formwork, scaffolding and screen systems, is pleased to announce upgraded earnings guidance for its 12
months ended 30 June 2022 financial year (FY22).

FY22 earnings guidance upgraded, fed by a strong 3Q22 revenue growth and contract pipeline
Acrow’s March 2022 quarter (3Q22) performance exceeded its prior expectations as the Company benefited from continued
high activity levels in Australia’s commercial construction sector, especially in the Civil Infrastructure market segment.
Leveraging off this strength, Acrow has continued to win significant new packages of work on a number of marque projects,
including the Brisbane Cross River Rail, the Melbourne Metro, Queensland’s Bruce Highway upgrade, the Melbourne
Western Distributor and the large Snowy Hydro 2 renewable energy project.
Acrow’s 3Q22 Hire revenue totalled $13.9m, a quarterly record for the Company. This included the best ever single-month
result for this revenue category ($4.9m in March).
New Hire revenue contracts secured in 3Q22 totalled $12.3m, which was up a healthy 11% on PCP. The year-to-date figure
for this revenue metric, which is a crucial lead indicator of Acrow’s future performance, is 22% higher on a PCP basis.
ASX:ACF
Acrow Formwork and Construction Services Limited
C/- Level 5, 126 Phillip Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Acrow Formwork and Construction Services Limited Page 2
This strong 3Q22 revenue performance coupled with the new contracts brought to book in the quarter has underpinned a
further upgrade to the Acrow Group’s FY22 revenue guidance, which is now projected to be $144-147m. At the midpoint, this
is 37% above PCP.
This revenue uplift will, in turn, bolster Acrow’s FY22 earnings expectations. Premised on the Company’s upwardly revised
mid-point projections, the projected ranges and PCP movements are:
• EBITDA of $34.5-35.5m, up 44%
• Underlying NPAT of $16.3-17.3m, up 93%
• EPS of 6.5-6.9 cents/share, up 68%
Acrow adds to debt funding facilities in anticipation of continued growth
Aided by Acrow’s strong contract book and pipeline, the Company successfully negotiated a $7.5m increase to its existing
Equipment Finance facility with Westpac. The additional headroom in this facility will greatly assist the Company to further
capitalise on the success it is experiencing in winning significant new packages of work in the Civil Infrastructure sector.
Acrow Formwork and Construction Services Limited CEO Steven Boland said: “We are very pleased to announce a
further upgrade to our FY22 revenue and earnings guidance metrics. These now higher numbers have been underpinned by
our continued ability to leverage off the slew of Federal and State government-funded infrastructure projects going from the
design phase to reality. But it is one thing seeing increased activity levels across the commercial construction and
infrastructure sectors. It is entirely another getting a material slice of this activity. The very strong growth in both revenue and
profitability in FY22 now in prospect reflects well on Acrow’s ability to provide a compelling case for the provision of its
equipment and services. This success in part reflects the attractiveness of our suite of world class formwork, screen and
scaffold products, but it is the customer solutions focus and overall expertise of our industry leading engineering team that is
the fundamental Acrow point of difference. This gives prospective clients many of their equipment requirements under one
roof. The continued growth of our contract book also reflects well on the sustained efforts of our sales team, who have
continued to lock in new work at record levels despite the challenges still presenting in the Australian economy, the COVID19 pandemic included.
We remain confident that activity levels across the broader commercial construction sector, especially that in the civil space,
will stay strong for quite some time yet.“
This release was approved by the Acrow Board of Directors.

==============================================================================
DYOR

i hold ACF

curses i was hoping i could top up in the coming months
 
certainly doesn't spring to mind in most strategies ( so normally gets a low priority on the various watch-lists i have )
 
given the BLD and CSR JV a ( fair ) while back , not as far-fetched as it sounds

however since Stokes ( and the SVW ) have taken a majority stake in BLD keep watching there

SVW might decide to pick up small players instead of completely swallowing BLD ( SVW is comfortable with a large shareholding in investments , and sometimes assisting mergers between companies they hold a stake in , BPT and Drillsearch come to mind )
 
On November 27th, 2023, Acrow Formwork and Construction Services Limited changed its name to Acrow Limited.
 
galumay said:
One i missed out on, never quite got enough conviction to take a position.
Click to expand...
a buy-and-hold mate bought into Acrow a few months ago at 80c after doing his DD.

probably always going to be a bit expensive; name change implies a market repositioning?

Screenshot_20231127-103630_CommSec.jpg
 
FY23 has been another outstanding year of achievements and progress across our business.
- Financially, we have again reported record revenues and profits. Our underlying net profit after tax grew by 71%, exceeding $30m for the first time.
- We grew earnings per share by 63% to 11.7 cents, and declared a full year dividend of 4.4 cents per share.
- Pleasingly, we delivered a fully franked final dividend of 2.7 cents per share.
- Most notably, our diligent capital investment process continues to deliver, generating a return on equity of 32.7% for the year, and arguably some of the highest returns in the industry.

...The industrial services division has become a substantial contributor of around a quarter of group revenue in FY23. Bolstering Acrow’s standing in this segment of the market, we announced the successful acquisition of a leading, Queensland based, industrial services business called MI Scaffold.... This company also brings with it a complementary long-standing blue-chip client base, and provides new service capabilities, most notably in the marine & ports sectors. On a pro-forma basis, the acquisition is expected to deliver high single digit earnings per share accretion and will further enhance the group through solid additional recurring revenues. Combined with the existing industrial services business this will contribute close to 40% of group revenues on a consolidated basis.

Assisted by a strongly supported $15.0m capital raise at $0.80 per share, and the solid backing from our banking partner, with an expanded $15.0m debt facility, we have maintained a conservative balance sheet of 0.8 times, pro-forma netdebt/EBITDA.

Since year end, we have also revitalised our brand. This rebranding unifies our expanded business under a 'one company' approach, emphasising a common purpose across the group.
Screenshot_20231127-114417_Drive.jpg

.

Screenshot_20231127-114434_Drive.jpg
 
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ACROW EXPANDS INDUSTRIAL SERVICES WITH THE ACQUISITION OF BENCHMARK SCAFFOLDING

Key Highlights
• Acrow acquires Benchmark Scaffolding, effective 1 March 2024
• Highly complementary, leading Queensland operator, providing complex industrial services access solutions
• Consideration of $9.0 million, with the potential of further earn outs based on improved EBITDA results in the first two full years of trading.
• Acquisition multiple of 3.8x, in line with previous acquisition multiples - funded by combination of cash, debt & equity
• FY24 EBITDA guidance range upgrade by $1 million to $73 -76 million

Acrow Limited (ASX: ACF) (“Acrow” or “the Company”), is pleased to announce the successful acquisition of Benchmark Scaffolding, a leading provider of access solutions based in Townsville, operating throughout North Queensland with a growing presence in South East Queensland, via its Yatala branch.
The acquisition is effective 1 March 2024. Similar to the recently acquired MI Scaffold, Benchmark Scaffolding is renowned for its quality services, specialising in providing scaffolding solutions for complex applications in the industrial, mining, and infrastructure sectors.
The business has built a strong reputation amongst its customer base, which includes several long-term relationships.
The operations of Benchmark Scaffolding are highly complementary to the Acrow Industrial Services business and especially to MI Scaffold with both business utilising Layher Scaffolding equipment .
The consideration for Benchmark Scaffolding totals $9.0 million.
This includes:
• an upfront cash payment of $6.4 million;
• the issuance of equity valued at $2.0 million1 ; and
• two deferred payments of $300,000 each, payable in 12 and 24 months.
In addition, there is potential for earn-outs, totalling approximately $1.0 million (un-capped), contingent upon the future EBITDA performance of the business, and payable over two years.
The acquisition will be funded by a combination of cash, debt, and equity.
Benchmark Scaffolding generates annualised revenue of approximately $9 million and EBITDA of $2.4 million.
Based on the consideration (pre-potential earnouts), this represents a multiple of around 3.8x EV/EBITDA, in line with recent Acrow acquisitions.
As a result of the acquisition, Acrow has upgraded its FY24 EBITDA guidance by $1 million to $73 million - $76 million.
Commenting on the announcement, CEO, Steven Boland said: "We are very pleased to have completed the acquisition of Benchmark Scaffolding.
Similar to the recently acquired MI Scaffold business, Benchmark has a longstanding reputation as a quality service provider in the industrial, mining, and infrastructure sectors.
The business is extremely complementary to MI Scaffold, and further enhances Acrow's position not just in the Central/North Queensland region, but nationally.” 1 Based on 14-day VWAP as at 29 February 2024 times 3% discount

“Furthermore, it strongly enhances Acrow's strategic goal of growing a national Industrial Services presence, generating profitable and stable annuity-style earnings, to complement our market-leading national formwork hire and sales business.
I'm pleased to welcome the team at Benchmark to the Acrow family and look forward to a successful future for this business as part of our team."

This release was approved by the Acrow Board of Directors.

i hold ACF

i am doing surprisingly well on this one ( up 200% ) ( having bought in during 2021)
 
ACROW ACHIEVES RECORD SECURED HIRE CONTRACTS AND PIPELINE

Acrow Limited (ASX: ACF) (“Acrow” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce an outstanding achievement in secured hire contract wins and sales pipeline growth for the month of June and full year 2024.

In June, Acrow secured a record $12.3 million in new hire contracts, marking another significant milestone.

Secured hire contracts for the full year totalled $78.3 million, reflecting a 17% increase over the previous financial year.The highlight for the month was securing the largest screens order in Acrow’s history.

Royal Formwork,contracting for Meriton projects, placed a $2.5 million order for our Premium Screens system.

For FY24, the sales pipeline also finished at a record $189 million, growing 33% on the previous financial year.
Substantial contributors to the outcome came from increased tenders for the industrial scaffold and Jump form products.

The new financial year has also commenced with a sizeable contract uplift in the Industrial Services division.
Our contract with Kent at the Ampol Refinery in Brisbane, has benefitted from a revised scope and duration of the works.
Consequently, the expected revenue for this project in FY25 will climb from an initial estimate of $5 million to a minimum of $13 million. This increase includes the provision of both equipment hire and labour services.

Commenting on the announcements, CEO, Steven Boland said: “It was very encouraging to finish the year with a record month and year for secured hire contracts and a record pipeline, and to start the new year with the revised Ampol contract.

This positions Acrow well for another year of growth.”

This release was approved by the Acrow Board of Directors.

-ENDS

i hold ACF
 

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