Civmec eyes stadium opportunities
Now the Burswood stadium contract has been decided, arguments over local content are likely to re-emerge when it comes to building it.
While there will be political pressure on the Brookfield-led consortium to engage Australian companies, the boss of WA fabricator Civmec also believes going local may not be much more expensive.
Chief executive Pat Tallon said because of rising production costs in China, Australian counterparts were no longer at such a disadvantage. "The reality is our pricing is not that far off now," Mr Tallon said.
"We have to deliver a reasonable cost comparison and we have to deliver to schedule."
The supply of concrete structures for the jetty at Chevron's Wheatstone LNG project in the Pilbara went Civmec's way ahead of an Asian rival by being competitive on price.
Offering surety of delivery was also significant. That was a factor in the case of Perth Airport's international terminal expansion, the award of a contract to a foreign supplier was overturned in favour of Civmec.
The chief executive said unlike Civmec, overseas fabrication yards had difficulties accommodating design changes once work had begun.
Mr Tallon and executive chairman Jim Fitzgerald remade the former VDM Group subsidiary five years ago. They have built massive facilities on 120,000sqm in Henderson, plus a Darwin hub. The workforce will be 1700 by mid-year.
While the construction frenzy of North West LNG projects has been good to Civmec, 65 per cent of revenue comes from mining.
The Singapore-listed contractor's revenue and profit fell in the first half, but believes it should match the last full-year profit of $S36 million ($31 million).
Like Mr Fitzgerald a 19.5 per cent shareholder in Civmec, Mr Tallon is bullish about the future. "We want to be a $1 billion company in the next two to three years," he said.
Civmec is now worth $S365 million.
"We don't want to overstretch, but we feel we're on the right road to get to where we need to be."
That ambition may have to be satisfied overseas. "There's certainly a levelling off of available (Australian) projects in the foreseeable future, so we need to look elsewhere for growth."
