Barminco weathering resources slow down

Mining contractor Barminco has been affected by a weaker resources sector but has cut costs to grow its margin on a weaker revenue base.

The unlisted company revealed EBITDA before one off redundancy costs of $112 million, down from $125 million the previous financial year, giving it a margin of 20.8 per cent.

This was improved from 18.5 per cent in the previous financial year due to a targeted efficiency improvement and cost management strategy, the company said in a release today.

Revenue fell more than 20 per cent from $675 million to $538 million as a result of “broader challenging conditions affecting the resources sector”.

Chief executive Peter Stokes said that increasing productivity had been a key focus, and this had been achieved through embracing automation and teleremoting .

“We are working in close partnership with our clients to identify and target practices that provide the most efficient and productive outcome,” Mr Stokes said.

This would help ensure contract renewals and win new contracts, he said.

Former Barminco boss Peter Bartlett appeared with Ausdrill managing director Ron Sayers in a long running tax evasion dispute in the Supreme Court.

Ausdrill announced today that the proceedings against Mr Sayers had been discontinued.