Veris : Annual Report to Shareholders 2021
VRS.AX
Annual Report
2021
Acknowledgment of Country
In the spirit of reconciliation Veris Limited acknowledges the Traditional
Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
Integrity and
authenticity
Inclusiveness
and respect
Commercial
success
We value
Pride and
optimism
Leadership
Quality and
Collaboration
responsibility
and
innovation
Cover image designed by Starline / Freepik.
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Contents
Chairman's Report
2
Message from the CEO of Veris Australia
5
Message from the CEO of Aqura Technologies
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Health, Safety, Environmental and Quality
13
Financial Reports
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2Karl Paganin Non-Executive Chairman
Chairman's Report
Looking forward, both the Veris Australia
and Aqura Technologies businesses share a strong organic growth outlook, underpinned by national operating platforms and opportunity tailwinds.
The 2021 financial year (FY21) has been characterised by a continuation of the challenging and uncertain operating environment first experienced the year prior as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Despite the challenges,
it has been pleasing to see the progress being made by Veris Limited ("the Group") and its two Operating Divisions, Veris Australia and Aqura Technologies ("Aqura"). This has materialised in a significant turnaround in business performance and trajectory.
Structural and management changes implemented across the Group have started to have a positive impact on performance. Strong improvements in operating margins were also able to be achieved in both Veris Australia and Aqura, underpinned by enhanced project management disciplines and sustained management of costs and overheads.
Pleasingly, despite the operating difficulties experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, revenues across the Group increased by 6% to $99.6 million in FY21. A strong result of 15% growth in Aqura's revenue to $22.1 million complemented the 4% growth in Veris Australia's revenue to $77.5 million. Aqura's growth in revenue was underpinned by continued expansion of its client base with large new contract awards being executed for Roy Hill, Santos, FMG and Cubic in the Defence sector as well as leveraging the continuation of longstanding, trusted relationships with BHP and Rio Tinto. Veris Australia also benefited from the diversification of revenue delivered via the national footprint of operations. The strong pipeline of work emerging from the resources sector complemented the increasing exposure to multi-year infrastructure projects in both Sydney (rail upgrades and light rail construction projects) and Melbourne (tunnelling and road expansions) as well as, the strong regional economy of North Queensland.
Both Veris Australia's and Aqura's operations generally continued as planned during the year as construction and resources sectors were designated as essential services in most states throughout FY21. Despite this, COVID-19 continued to have multiple impacts throughout the duration of the year, including:
Veris Limited Annual Report 2021
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Veris Australia continues to work on the Metro Tunnel Project in Melbourne.
Despite these additional costs and inefficiencies it was pleasing to report Group EBITDA increased to $9.0 million, up 382% from $1.9 million in the prior year. This reflects the substantial improvements made in project management disciplines and cost reduction strategies across the Group.
Whilst the Group reported a loss before tax from continuing operations of $1.4 million, this was a $21.8 million improvement on the prior year and demonstrates the sound trajectory the Group is now on under the disciplined approach of the new management team.
As a result of the improved operational performance, the Group's balance sheet has also strengthened following a tighter focus on working capital management coupled with the proceeds of the capital raising conducted in March 2021. The combination of the above resulted in a reduction of CBA bank debt of $2.3 million throughout FY21, with the core long term facility balance sitting at $4.7 million at 30 June 2021.
The Group's Business Resilience Team, which has been managing our response to the pandemic, has worked prudently during this time to ensure both businesses could safely continue to operate in a constricted business environment. In addition, our people are to be commended for their flexibility and commitment to adapt to new ways of remote working and social distancing protocols on site to ensure we continued delivering our services safely for our clients.
Whilst the Group's focus on improved business performance continued throughout the year, it also took steps to provide a platform for further growth and value realisation for both Veris Australia and Aqura via a successful Capital Raising. Proceeds from the Share Purchase Plan and Placement has strengthened the balance sheet and underpinned the continued execution of the respective strategies of both businesses. I thank our existing and new shareholders for their strong support and participation.
Aqura delivered continued growth in FY21 and its strong position in the growing sector of remote communication networks and its strong outlook has given the board confidence to demerge the business from Veris Australia. This will allow the business to be separately capitalised and solidify its position in a growing market.
The Group continued its efforts to build a diverse and inclusive work culture and to respectfully work in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations, as outlined in our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) - Veris Reflect. In an exciting next step for the Group, we acquired an interest in Indigenous-owned Wumara Group, a land and construction surveying company, and will be supporting their vision of empowering Indigenous Australians through education and employment opportunities, whilst also providing opportunities to work in alliance with Veris Australia.
The process of Board renewal continued during the year, with Mr David Murray appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Veris Limited. Mr Murray is a highly respected professional who brings a number of important skills sets to the Board, and will also assume the role of chairperson of the Audit and Risk committee. Mr Murray replaces
Disclaimer
Veris Limited published this content on 20 September 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 22 September 2021 07:11:04 UTC.