Numerous major contracts have been awarded to the state’s mining and civil companies, creating a robust job market for contractors.
Numerous major contracts have been awarded to the state’s mining and civil companies, creating a robust job market for contractors.
Jobs created by Western Australia’s top mining and civil contractors have risen more than a third so far this financial year on the back of surging growth in the amount of contracts being awarded.
In the past 12 months, the state’s 10 largest contractors by employee numbers – as established by WA Business News Book of Lists – have added almost 6,000 jobs to the workforce. They now employ a total of 22,250 workers.
Perth-based contractor NRW Holdings has been a prime mover in the employment spike following several major project wins.
The company was awarded civil works at Cape Lambert, Anderson Point, Port Hedland’s Inner Harbour, Western Turner Brockman and mining works at Solomon Hub, which combined are worth more than $700 million.
As a result, NRW’s workforce in WA has increased by 1,520 this financial year as it seeks to accommodate the new contracts.
The influx of work has also boosted NRW’s bottom line, with the company recording a 123 per cent jump in half-yearly earnings to put it on course for a full-year revenue target of $1.3 billion.
Leighton Holdings, through subsidiaries Leighton Contractors, John Holland and Thiess, remains one of the state’s most powerful contractors.
The group added more than 1,000 new employees to support new work such as Leighton Contractor’s $205 million mine services contract at Telfer gold mine, John Holland’s $367 million Wheatstone accommodation village and Thiess’ $450 million Wheatstone site preparation contract.
John Holland also started work on the $1.2 billion children’s hospital in Perth, while continuing to make progress on its Perth City Link contract.
Macmahon Holdings, in which Leighton is the major shareholder, snared some of the largest contracts on offer during the past year, most notably the $900 million mine services job for the Tropicana gold project in the eastern Goldfields.
The West Perth-based company has enjoyed a strong 12 months, achieving a record order book in excess of $3 billion and last month delivering a record 26 per cent rise in profit for the first half of the 2012 financial year.
Macmahon executive general manager strategy and development Ashley Mason told WA Business News the company’s overall employee base had grown from just over 3,000 at the start of this financial year to be on course for almost 5,000 by year-end.
Macmahon expects the Tropicana job will require it to employ a further 250 people on top of its existing 2,400 WA staff.
Mr Mason said the potential for additional contract wins at the company remained strong in the current environment.
“We are seeing a very good range of project possibilities, principally in WA and Queensland,” Mr Mason said.
“Even if there is a bit of a slow-down, both in mining and civil construction, it is still off historic highs.”
A growing number of contract wins helped push local company Monadelphous into the ASX 100 over the past year.
The company, which has the state’s largest workforce of any contractor, at 4,500, reported that much of the growth was the result of a historically high level of large resources and energy projects being built.
In the past 12 months, Monadelphous was able to win more than $1.5 billion in contracts, which includes substantial projects at Cape Lambert and Wheatstone.
“These contracts support our objective of sustainable growth through the continued expansion of our infrastructure business and they build on our long-term relationships with blue-chip customers,” Monadelphous managing director Rob Velletri said in a statement.
Another prominent WA contractor, Downer Australia, has added 800 new workers over the course of the year.
The company expects to create a further 120 jobs over a six-year period through its $570 million contract to provide mine services to the Karara Mining joint venture between Gindalbie Metals and China’s Ansteel.
Karara Mining has awarded several contracts, including work worth more than $800 million to AusGroup subsidiary AGC Industries, GCo Electric and BIS Industries.
AusGroup has a workforce of 530 on site at Karara and predicts this to increase to 700.
Along with its dual contract wins worth a combined $210 million at Karara, AusGroup also picked up a $50 million contract from US energy giant Chevron.
BGC Contracting, which had been experiencing a modest financial year following some substantial contract wins in the previous 12 months, snared a $120 million contract to construct an airstrip and internal roads for Hancock Prospecting’s Roy Hill project.
The company, which has increased its WA workforce steadily by 10 per cent to more than 1,500, also has a long-term contract at Citic Pacific Mining’s Sino Iron project in the Pilbara.
Meanwhile, Decmil has continued to establish a strong relationship with Fortescue Metals Group and has been named as one of the iron ore miner’s preferred contractors.
Decmil has been awarded three contracts by the Andrew Forrest-chaired company in the past year, with a combined value of more than $100 million.
After declaring a dividend in its first-half results, Decmil chief executive officer Scott Criddle said he expected the company’s earnings to continue to grow and be even stronger in the second half.
“We are continuing to benefit from the strength of the resources sector, most notably in Western Australia and Queensland,” Mr Criddle said in a statement.
One of the state’s smaller contractors, Brierty, continues to find its niche among the bigger players, building a record $235 million order book for the financial year.
The Perth-based company has picked up contracts in the Pilbara, Mid West and in the metropolitan area, which cover civil, mining and urban infrastructure.
To support its growth, Brierty has increased its workforce to about 450, a jump of about 30 per cent in the past six months.
Two of the company’s major contract wins have been with Fortescue, which has awarded the company a fuel-siding project in Port Hedland and a contract to construct 25km of rail at the Solomon project’s rail spur.
Brierty managing director Peter McBain said the company would seek to maintain a diversified approach to winning new work as this strategy helped the company spread its risk.
“By not loading up too much in one place you can spread your work around the company’s various areas of competency,” Mr McBain told WA Business News.
“We are not trying to do too much in one area and not trying to grow too much as a company – we are trying to keep things contained and keep things going at a sensible rate.”
