CALIBRE Projects started from scratch in 2002, offering engineering, procurement and construction management services to the mining sector.
A decade later, now called Calibre Global, the company sits easily among the top 10 private employers in the state, with 1,600 staff in Western Australia, a staggering rise that has been exponential – as reports from the intervening years show.
For example, in 2005 Calibre had 400 staff when it won the WA Business News Rising Star Award.
In 2010, it had 700 staff when UK-based private equity investor First Reserve Corporation took a major stake in the business, a catalyst to both organic expansion and growth by acquisition.
None of the major private companies in WA has matched that kind of growth, reflecting Calibre’s position as a direct supplier to the fundamental driver of the state’s economic expansion, project delivery.
Nevertheless, the employment numbers of private companies help reveal who is who in the state’s economy when other information is hard to come by.
For instance, aged care has two major private players in the form of Aegis Aged Care Group and Hall & Prior Aged Care Group. Between them they employ nearly 3,500 people in the vital, growing and politically challenging field (see Public role for private players as major wealth brings widespread influence).
While aged care may not deliver the same salaries to employees or the profits to owners of a resources-linked engineering firm, the sector is needed more than ever as the nation enters a period when the biggest population cohort succumbs to retirement and, ultimately, the need for others to look after them.
The success of these private players is even more astounding given they compete in the main against not-for-profit groups, which have some tax advantages.
Another field often touted as important and yet neglected is the hospitality sector, providing accommodation both for tourism and corporate travellers.
AHS Hospitality employs 3,500 people in WA, with many more employed interstate, providing outsourced staff for accommodation providers.
Those are remarkable stories that show how smart, focused businesses can thrive in fields that are not traditionally known for the success of regional private players.
Another standout is WA’s residential construction sector, which is dominated by three large private companies – BGC, ABN Group and JWH.
This is unusual compared with other states where housing construction is spread more broadly. In fact, only last year was BGC pipped as the nation’s biggest homebuilder, a title it has held for years; this in itself is remarkable, given it operates only in WA, which has just 10 per cent of the national population.
While some of the scale of these companies, comparative to other players interstate, has been driven by WA’s economic growth, it still represents a significant divergence from the way the housing sector operates in the rest of the country.
Also notable among the biggest private company employers are car retailers. John Hughes Group, DVG Automotive Group and Perron Group’s Prestige Motors are key players in that sector, with Perron also controlling distribution of Toyota vehicles in WA.
IT group Kinetic IT is a rare bird among WA’s elite private companies. It claims to have 700 staff in WA as well as offices around the country.
In the construction side of the economy, notable private business players in terms of employment are Georgiou Group and Piacentini & Son. Perth-based Georgiou Group is a commercial construction firm, while Piacentini is an earth-moving contractor based in the South West.
Returning to the mining services world, Barminco, a private-equity controlled mining contractor which pulled out of a proposed $600 million float last year, remains as one of the biggest private employers.
Like Calibre, it competes with numerous national players. Unlike Calibre, which faces significant multi-national competition, Barminco’s rivals spread more noticeably to the Perth-based listed sector where many formerly private companies now reside.
