Symal Group Limited

Symal Group Limited

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Q4 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptAugust 24, 2026

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to Symal results briefing for the full FY26. My name is Simon Hinsley, and I will host today's briefing.

I'm pleased to welcome Joe Bartolo, Symal's Co-Founder and Managing Director, Nabil Sadaka, CEO, and Scott McQueen, CFO. Before I hand it over to Joe and the team to go through the presentation up on the screen, just a reminder on Q&A.

All questions are to be submitted in writing on the right-hand side of your screen, and we'll get to those post the end of the presentation. With that, I hand it over to you, Joe.

Joe Bartolo

Good morning, and thank you for joining our FY26 results call. Today I'm joined by Nabil Sadaka, CEO of Symal's Operations, and Scott McQueen, Symal Group CFO.

We're excited to share what we've achieved this year through our diversified services platform, where vertical integration of our brands gives us the right to win in our key end markets. Our strategy is positioning Symal to continue the exceptional, consistent growth that we've delivered to date.

Doing what we say matters to us, and we're pleased to report we have delivered on our commitments across FY26. At an operational level, we have delivered our best ever safety performance.

This is not just statistics to us, it means we send our people home safely. Our work in hand and pipeline is at record numbers, but we have also continued to deliberately diversify our book.

We're not leveraged to one sector, nor to one state. We've also delivered financially, with FY26 not just hitting guidance, but delivering financial records.

Our revenue comfortably exceeded $1 billion for the first time. We have record EBITDA and record NPAT, despite our investment in acquisitions, plant and equipment, facilities, and people to support growth.

We've been deliberate in our capital allocation. We completed four strategic acquisitions and announced an agreement for a fifth, which will close very soon.

The intent with these investments is clear: increase our recurring revenue, expand our geographic footprints, and increase our capacity and capability to win in key end markets. We have done this prudently and deliberately, and our balance sheet remains strong.

Our debt levels are low, and we retain capacity to deploy, but only where it matters. Our focus remains on growing organically, as it's still at our core.

Our allocation principles also target consistent returns, and in line with what we have declared, a final dividend of 4.9 cents per share. Now turning to slide 3, which has more detail on our safety performance.

We're proud of what we've achieved in FY26. It's a team effort and reflects company-wide buy-in, diligence, and commitment.

Despite our record growth, our rolling TRIFR was 1.4, some 76% below industry average. This included zero lost time injuries.

Keeping our people safe is justification enough, but it's worth noting safety does have financial benefits, too. With virtually zero WorkCover claims, our WorkCover premiums are 30% below industry average.

That translates to millions of dollars to the bottom line. Moving to slide 4 and more details on our FY26 highlights.

As already mentioned, work in hand is at its record level, sitting at $1.9 billion, and is more diverse than ever. Our total tendered pipeline and ECIs sits at approximately $9.1 billion.

That, too, is more diverse than it's ever been. Financially, FY26 has been another strong year of growth and record delivery.

Our revenue was well over $1 billion. We delivered $124.3 million of EBITDA, which was in the upper half of our guidance range.

Normalized NPAT was also a record at $49 million. In terms of capital allocation, we invested strategically in accretive M&A, spending just over $81 million on four key acquisitions.

These acquisitions have delivered us more recurring revenue, greater geographic spread, access to new markets, and more importantly, these acquisitions provide the right platform for Symal to scale and grow organically. We invest with discipline.

We believe a strong balance sheet and prudent leverage through the cycle are the hallmarks of a well-run company. With leverage of 0.4 times at the end of FY26, we remain strong, but ready to continue to invest opportunistically and strategically.

As previously mentioned, the board have approved 4.9 cents per share as a final dividend. We're also making operational our dividend reinvestment plan alongside the FY26 final dividend to provide shareholders a choice.

Moving to slide 5, we continue to grow and diversify our work in hand and pipeline. As already mentioned, our work in hand stood at $1.9 billion, whilst our tendered pipeline, including ECIs, was at $9.1 billion.

The charts on this slide show how we have diversified our book, both in terms of end markets and geographically. Looking at end markets, we see that energy and resources, utilities, defense, digital infrastructure, and other markets combined now account for 54% of our total work in hand.

Also, our work in hand geographic spread continues to diversify, too. Not by shrinking our core, but by expanding our reach, with more than half our pipeline now outside Victoria and growing.

You can also see from the table on the right our strong, established work in hand position across infrastructure, energy, and utilities. This continues to grow geographically.

Despite our success to date, the opportunities for further growth across other key end markets, including digital infrastructure and defense, remain enormous. We'll talk more about our key end markets and the opportunities they present later.

We are growing deliberately into an integrated services company, as illustrated by our organic pipeline, our acquisitions, and our strategy. We aren't linked to one sector, one geography, one theme, or one or two major contracts.

Moving now to slide 6 and our record of performance. Whilst we've been listed for under two years, we've been around for more than 25 years.

We have demonstrated consistent organic growth and returns for such a long time. We've also hit or exceeded all the guidance targets we have set as a listed company.

In the first half, we produced 10.2% EBITDA margin, and we stated we expect margins to be stronger in the second half. We produced with a margin of 11.5%.

This translated to a full-year margin of 11%, right where we said it would be. I've talked to our 2030 $200 million EBITDA aspiration.

This is now less of an aspiration and more of an expectation. With our FY26 performance delivered, our FY27 forecast, and a track record of demonstrated growth, I am more confident than ever we will get there, and we're going to get there sooner.

I'll now hand you over to Scott, who will walk you through our FY26 financial performance.

Scott McQueen

Thanks, Joe, and good morning, everyone. Turning to slide 7, which provides some additional detail on our FY26 financial results.

Starting at the top with revenue, we delivered strong top-line growth, with revenue reaching $1.14 billion, the first time Symal has exceeded the $1 billion mark. Moving down to normalized EBITDA, we achieved FY26 guidance, coming in above the midpoint at $124.3 million, despite some unexpected second half cost headwinds.

This was a solid 17% growth rate, just over 10% of which was organic, and just under 7% related to acquisitions. Before we move on to the bottom line, it's worth noting the drivers for the step-up in D&A.

This reflects three key things, all of which represent an investment in the future growth. Firstly, $75 million of CapEx invested.

This was an unusually large investment and a level of CapEx that won't be sustained. We will cover more on that in our guidance later.

Second, the new D&A associated with the four acquisitions completed, both tangible and intangible assets acquired. Thirdly, the investment in new leases and of the facilities to support the 2030 ambition Joe has laid out.

Moving to the bottom line, we delivered NPAT of $49 million, or 20.6 cents per share. I note the slight reduction in year-on-year NPAT margin.

This reflects the P&L impact of the growth investments mentioned, investments that will right-size the business structure for growth well into the future. As we'll see in our guidance, we don't anticipate that rate of CapEx to continue.

Joe has already covered the dividend, which is consistent ratio with the prior half. This reflects balance in our capital allocation approach: consistent performance, maintaining prudent leverage and a strong balance sheet, retaining capacity to pursue opportunistic growth where it is on strategy and value accretive.

Turning to slide 8 and the major segment results. I won't spend too long on this for two reasons.

Firstly, we see these segments as interrelated. Symal is an integrated business.

Small changes in relative margin between the segments period on period is not something we focus on. We seek to maximize the utilization of our plant via both internal as well as external wet and dry hire.

What we are focused on is the group margin, and that was delivered at a healthy 11%. Secondly, as Symal has diversified and grown, it's timely to ensure the organizational design is fit for purpose.

Symal is undertaking an organizational design review, which we expect to complete in the coming months. This review will likely impact how these segments are presented and reported moving forward.

Moving on to slide 9. Here we provide additional context on the key drivers of the year-on-year growth in NPAT.

As previously mentioned, we delivered 17%, or $18 million, EBITDA growth, $11 million organic and just over $7 million associated with acquisitions. In the D&A section, you can see the year-on-year earnings impact of these investments I talked to earlier: plant and equipment, new facility leases, and the acquired D&A associated with our four completed acquisitions.

Finally, in the purple, we see a modest increase in borrowing costs, part of the increase related to the interest on the new facility leases, the balance reflecting a modest increase in borrowing costs on drawn debt. As we predominantly funded our FY26 investments from cash, a significant portion of our debt facility remains undrawn.

However, we pay a margin on our bank guarantee and bonding facilities also, and naturally, the combined value of these is increasing as the business grows. Moving to slide 10, where we provide some analysis of our FY26 cash flows.

On a statutory basis, cash conversion was 95%. This was lower year on year due to the absolute reduction in margins, along with additional cash acquisition costs and working capital movements, but it remained within the 90% to 110% target range previously outlined.

For me, the bottom line here is, are we getting paid? The answer is, absolutely we are.

Symal has a history of extremely low bad debts, and debtors remain very current. If we continue that focus, we will maximize cash, all things being equal.

Moving to the right, we see interest and tax paid, combined at around $23 million. In the investing cash flow highlights, we clearly see CapEx and acquisitions.

CapEx shown here, $64 million, is net of around $11 million proceeds on the sale of excess plant and equipment. In terms of financing, given we predominantly funded our acquisition and investments from cash, we don't see a significant increase in drawn debt, keeping borrowing costs low.

Finally, we also see lease repayments of $7 million and dividends paid of $22 million. Moving to slide 11.

This covers the key elements of our liquidity, debt, and leverage as at 30 June. Despite cash funding the majority of FY26 investments, we retain a strong liquidity position of almost $260 million.

This included $82 million of cash and $177 million of immediately available credit facilities. While we have moved from a net cash position into net debt, as shown, this is not unexpected given the significant capital investments made and the four completed acquisitions during the year.

Our net leverage is low at 0.4 times, and we retain significant funding capacity to grow. In addition, our return on invested capital across FY26 was an extremely strong 23%.

As I mentioned earlier, our bank guarantees and bonding commitments do continue to grow with the business, and these totaled $107 million as at June 30. Thank you, everyone.

I'll now hand back to Joe.

Joe Bartolo

Thanks, Scott. As we turn to slide 12, I'd like to remind everyone of a few key points that makes Symal unique within our sector.

We're a diversified and national services platform. We're not a civil contractor.

This is only one part of our business. We provide contracting services to Australia's largest growth markets: infrastructure, digital infrastructure, energy and resources, utilities, and defense.

For clarity, our business is designed to excel in these themes, but be diverse enough not to be reliant on any one to achieve consistent returns. As a founder-led business with 69% of the stock held by Symal executives, we have a long-term view on our strategy, and our management team are fully aligned to our outcomes.

We're vertically integrated and self-performing company with over 1,800 staff and 12 separate businesses. Where possible, this means we're not reliant on the external market to dictate terms, rates, or any inflation costs.

We minimize our concentration risk via an average contract size of around $20 million. This removes the lumpiness you'll see with larger contracts, supports greater staff retention, and eliminates any high-risk exposures.

Our work in hand and pipeline continues to grow at record numbers. We have the work, the people, the opportunities.

Symal is positioned better than it's ever been to deliver on our strategy. Moving to slide 13.

I've talked about growth and expansion, and here you can see it. Today we have 22 national offices and yards ready to deliver.

FY26 included significant milestones. We established our first permanent position in South Australia through Davisons.

We're very excited about South Australia and what it brings. We have doubled down in Queensland by including three new businesses, creating a truly integrated group that can work in unison and leverage the vast Queensland infrastructure pipeline, which is larger than these contractors could ever individually deliver.

We opened our purpose-built operations and maintenance facility at Avalon, and relocated to our new corporate office in South Melbourne. Late in the year, we announced an agreement to acquire Queensland-based Shamrock Civil, and we expect to close that very soon.

It's been a big year, and yes, it's quite a lot, but we have the people, the systems, and processes in place, and we are all energized and excited about the opportunities ahead. If there's one thing Symal is good at, it's growing whilst maintaining culture and profitability.

Moving to slide 14, we'll talk more about our key end markets. Digital infrastructure, it's the hottest topic in town, and it's no different inside Symal.

Digital infrastructure is not new to us. We built our first data center in Victoria in 2020, and we have 18 completed data centers to our name.

In the last 12 months alone, our digital infrastructure packages span 15 separate data center projects, which once complete will have a combined value of approximately $380 million. This equates to an average of $25 million per project.

Let's break this down. If these were generally 50-megawatt data centers, think about the size of the average contract on a 200-megawatt plus build.

I'll let you do the maths. While typically our scopes have to date varied between 5% and 7% of the total base-build cost, we're looking at ways to expand our potential value capture through the expert electrical capability of Syro and Lekal.

Despite what we've already delivered and all the work we've already seen, we're potentially only at the tip of the iceberg. The size of the addressable market is truly one of scale that may exceed anything we've ever seen before.

Our pipeline is stronger than it's ever been, and with what we are seeing, it's just the beginning. We have the relationships, the demonstrated capability, and a credibility to deliver fast, efficiently, effectively, and safely, as required to sustain success in this space.

On slide 15, we cover off energy and utilities. Energy is another key growth market, being driven by the energy transition, population growth, or to power the digital infrastructure boom.

Energy is the second largest market in our work in hand and the biggest in our overall pipeline at $6.6 billion. Over the last year, we've secured over $200 million of energy projects, and with over $6 billion in active projects in the pipeline, energy is firmly in Symal's wheelhouse.

It's worth noting with a $500 billion addressable market in front of us, we expect to keep winning and growing in energy. In utilities, Lekal's success has been a highlight for FY26, laying waste to every target we set.

Lekal has established a solid position in the highly regulated Victorian energy distribution network. Lekal's workforce has also grown by 75% since the acquisition, second only to its geographic expansion.

Lekal is now servicing Powercor across hubs including Brooklyn, Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, and all the way to Shepparton and Mildura, and we service 80% of CitiPower's network in Melbourne. With $64 billion of regulated non-discretionary spend across the NEM over the next five years and opportunities to expand to South Australia, we see a pathway for Lekal to double its revenue.

Water is another area we see great potential, with $9.6 billion committed nationally to servicing and upgrading water infrastructure. McFadden is the prime candidate to participate in this sector.

Infrastructure is at the core of Symal, and we are not losing focus in this area. We see a record of $240 billion of addressable infrastructure investment planned across the locations we operate in.

Of course, we are still having great success at EBTA, and it continues to progress extremely well. We still have over $300 million remaining on the project through to completion in FY29.

Our work in hand and pipeline of opportunities in infrastructure remain strong at $2.6 billion, and whilst infrastructure may not be as front of mind for some, it is for us at Symal. We expect to continue to win and grow in infrastructure nationwide.

On defense, late in FY26, we took a significant step to acquire Shamrock Civil. With an addressable market of $425 billion, we're at the beginning of a boom in defense, too.

Success in defense requires specialist accreditations and established relationships, built on track record of delivery and success. These attributes take time and are hard won.

Shamrock has this pedigree. Shamrock also bring defense capability where the growth will be, with a span from South Australia through to Darwin and Northern Territory, and even into the Pacific.

Combined, we will have the scale, the experience, the reputation, and the strength to grow further and faster as defense investment accelerates. We've included some details of our Shamrock acquisition in the appendix.

Moving to slide 17 and a recap of our strategic focus. I've covered this before, I won't dwell on it.

We're growing deliberately and with purpose, and much of the exciting progress made can be directly linked to our five strategic focus areas. We've strengthened our core with a proven platform we can double by investing ahead of assets, facilities, and resources required to take us there.

Our earnings are more diversified than ever, as is our work in hand and pipeline. We're unlocking group value via geographic and end market aligned acquisitions that are stronger together.

We don't buy earnings, we buy growth opportunities. Every day, we innovate to find better ways to do what we do, whilst building capability in our organization.

Today, Symal is too big to rely on a few. Whilst we retain our founder-led approach, the capability in our people runs deeper than ever.

Moving to slide 18, our last slide. Let's talk about FY27.

We've extended our guidance to include EBITDA, D&A, and CapEx. Let's start with the EBITDA guidance.

We're providing a range between $153 million and $163 million. As you can see from our order book, we have lots of opportunities ahead of us.

In saying that, we're comfortable with our guidance. It's only early in the year, and as always, our focus is on positive outcomes for our shareholders.

D&A of $55 million to $60 million is included to provide clarity. We invested heavily in our future in FY26, and some of that shows up as D&A.

These D&A charges will be annualized in FY27. Finally, capital guidance of $25 million to $30 million pre any acquisitions.

Of this, we expect around 60% to be cash and 40% to be funded via leases or other financing as it relates to fleet and light vehicle upgrades. Our key focus areas, be it in business as usual or M&A, are also outlined here.

These include continuing to win both geographically and across our key end markets. We like recurring revenue like Lekal provides.

We want to grow that. Here in Victoria, we see ourselves as the incumbent digital infrastructure contractor.

We want to leverage those skills, experience, relationships, and reputation more widely as this sector booms. Syro is a key growth opportunity and a key vertical integration play.

We want to continue to capture more of the pie when we win. Being disciplined in our capital allocation is important to us also.

Strong financial results allow us to deliver consistent returns, maintain prudent leverage, and pursue accretive growth, all important components of our capital allocation framework. This also extends to M&A.

We'll maximize the synergies and value from the acquisitions completed. We still have the capacity to grow, but we view M&A as opportunistic, and we'll remain on the lookout for opportunities that align with our strategy.

I expect that most would likely mean adding skills and capacity to grow faster and capture a bigger share in specific key end markets. However, no matter what it is, it must pass all our hurdles and ultimately deliver value for our shareholders.

Thank you all for your interest in Symal, and to those who have already invested, thank you for your support. I'll now open the floor for Q&A.

Operator

Great, thanks so much, Joe, and thanks to the team. Just a reminder, if you did want to ask a question, the Q&A panel on your right of screen, just type it in there.

First question is from Amanda Kelly at Barrenjoey. In the mid-term, wondering if you can talk to capabilities you want to add to in the digital infrastructure space and what percentage of investment you think you could become applicable versus 17% you've provided now.

Joe Bartolo

G'day. Look, in terms of the digital infrastructure space and what further investment we can do, currently we're doing the earthworks, civils, the public realm works, landscaping, concrete works, some of the precast elements and structural steel.

In addition to that, though, it's all about now using Lekal and Syro for the lead-in style type works from that electrical point of view. Again, as we continue to diversify our business and grow, expectation is to continue to add some other electrical components or other areas where we see to sort of add great value to Symal as a whole by way of acquisition as well.

We can definitely increase that 17%. To what number, it's probably a bit premature for me to say what that's going to be, but we definitely have our eyes on the prize and we know what we want to achieve.

Operator

Great, thanks, Joe. Just a question from Darcy Whyte at Jarden.

Given the size of the tender pipeline and work in hand, how much additional work can Symal absorb with its existing asset base, and are there any capacity constraints?

Joe Bartolo

Look, in terms of the asset base, obviously we've got $200 million worth of assets that we use on our projects. We have a fair bit of gear to continue growing Symal, and our forecast has allowed for the right level of CapEx for what we've got coming up.

If we go beyond that, there may be a requirement to buy additional assets in due course, but I think that would be based on any major project that may need some sort of specialist type equipment. If we do so, we would obviously guide the market accordingly.

In addition, it's worthwhile noting that we also have the ability to use the external hire market to add to our fleet.

Operator

Great, thanks, Joe. Just a question from Amanda Kelly at Barrenjoey.

Can you walk through the segment drivers of margin profile between 10% to 12% in FY27? What are the outcomes that could drive this to be at the higher or lower end?

Joe Bartolo

Look, I'll take it back to digital infrastructure. That's where we're seeing some of the largest growth in that space.

I think the best way to be thinking about digital infrastructure today is the size of the data centers that we've been building are circa 50-megawatt data centers, and we delivered 15 data centers within that period, an average of $25 million per data center. If we just double the size of those data centers to a 100-megawatt, you now got an average of $50 million per project.

If we go to 150, we go to 200, or up to 800 megawatts and beyond, there's talks of 1-gigawatt data centers. I think you can start to see quite quickly the opportunities that are going to present themselves to the market.

I think from all forecasts, there'll probably be more data center work than what there is going to be contractors available to deliver, and that generally will drive margins up. I think that's an area where we can definitely see some increased margin in the business.

Also, favorable conditions across the market will generally drive those margins beyond that 12% mark. Our focus is delivering between 10% and 12%, but all things going well, we'll beat that.

Operator

Great, thanks, Joe. Just a question from Darcy Whyte again at Jarden.

You've guided to lower CapEx in '27. What's driving that step-down, and what do you see as the appropriate sustaining CapEx level for the business longer term?

Scott McQueen

Hey, thanks for that question, Darcy. Look, yeah, '26 was definitely a year of investment for the company in property, plant and equipment, facilities, acquisitions.

We deliberately guided CapEx this year because we expected that step-down, and we wanted to make sure the market understood that step-down, and we would see that the '27 level is broadly more consistent with what would be expected moving forward. It's a moving space at all times, of course.

Operator

Great, thanks, Scott. Just a follow-up question from Darcy.

Can you update us on Lekal and Syro performance since acquisition? How's that tracking versus expectations?

Joe Bartolo

Look, Lekal's been an amazing acquisition for us. It's a well-established business working in that regulated space.

To give you some color there, we've definitely seen a huge step-up in terms of revenue and margin that's coming from that business. If I could go and acquire 10 more Lekals, I would tomorrow.

It's been a great business. We've got more works within our books now.

We've got the on-call service contract. We've increased the amount of depots that we're servicing.

That continues to expand. Again, we've got some really good, ambitious growth drivers there organically to continue growing that business, and we take on more work within Victoria, but also look at expanding into other states as well.

Definitely a great one. In terms of Syro being our organic startup, that's been a great business, too, obviously, or else we wouldn't have started it.

We're starting to get some real momentum there, some really big opportunities in the pipeline. We've delivered one of our first major solar BESS projects.

We've got a lot of work in terms of that EV space as well. Then now also looking at that data center space and how Syro can really participate in a larger way.

I think for the future Syro's got some really amazing opportunities. We're going to continue driving that business organically into '27 and beyond.

Operator

Great, thanks, Joe. Just a question from Liam Schofield at Morgans.

Can you talk about the moving parts of the debt balance through the FY27 year: net debt, Shamrock, working capital, and CapEx? At what rate, given the bank guarantees?

Scott McQueen

Thanks for that question. In '27, we have to settle Shamrock.

We've guided an upfront $51 million on that. About $10 million of that is scrip, we're about $41 million.

There's some deferred consideration there, it's only about $35 million out the door as the upfront payment. Beyond that, we've guided the CapEx.

We've got pretty strong cash flow across the year, I would expect the net debt to be pretty stable or come down slightly across the year. We have floating rate interest, we've got pretty strong margins, pretty tight margins on that.

I think across the year, we should be in pretty good shape.

Operator

Great, thanks, Scott. Just Darcy Whyte at Jarden.

You've highlighted $6 billion of tenders in energy and resources against roughly $570 million of work in hand. How should we think about energy and resources margins relative to the broader group?

Nabil Sadaka

Thanks, Darcy. The energy and resources sectors continue to provide a really solid pipeline for us, and we're really excited by that.

You'll see from the deck that it now makes up 30% of our work in hand, which is great. The margin profiles out of this continue to support our 10% to 12% range that we hope to hit every year.

It's probably more likely that you'll see more potential coming out of the data and digital infrastructure space for margin upside in the future.

Operator

Great, thanks, Nabs. Just a question from Lochlan Woods at Canaccord.

You've developed a strong reputation doing balance of plant work on major transmission projects. Can you go into any color of any relationships you've developed or key contracts you're looking at?

Nabil Sadaka

I can. In the transmission space, we've got a really strong reputation for supporting some of the players in the market.

We've formed some really great relationships with a couple of our listed peers in particular, and we're currently looking at opportunities in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria. We'll have more to say on that, hopefully, over the coming year.

Operator

Great, thanks, Nabs. Just Darcy again at Jarden.

On M&A strategy, what types of businesses or capabilities are you looking to acquire in the energy vertical, and what are the key criteria you use when assessing potential targets?

Joe Bartolo

Definitely got a big focus in the electrical space for us. That's no secret.

We've spoken about that for some time. That's to increase our capabilities in Syro, we start to match the same level of what we have with our infrastructure or our civil balance of plant.

Big focus there on increasing its workforce and overall capabilities. Furthermore, it's about getting those capabilities in a scalable and I suppose in a decent way in the data center space as well.

That's very important for us. If we can tick two boxes at once, that'll be fantastic.

In terms of other M&A priorities, for us, it will be in that utility space. It's about getting more recurring revenue into the business.

It's a key focus. Also then, we are opportunistic, and we're deliberate for what we do.

Finding acquisitions that's going to give us the greater incumbency in certain end markets that we're working in or gives us a greater reach nationally, we'll be looking at that as well.

Operator

Great, thanks, Joe. You probably just answered this question, but just from Ben Yuan at Ords regarding future M&A, what geographies have your interest in '27?

Joe Bartolo

Again, it's not really totally about the geographies. It's about what I said in the previous question.

However, we do have a bit of a keen interest in looking over to the west in due course. That's not something that we're saying is imminent, but it's definitely something that we can see as completing the whole national footprint.

I think it's important to remember that we do have a very flexible and transient workforce, and we're accustomed to working in FIFO and DIDO sort of conditions. For us, the projects can sort of be anywhere, and we can move our staff around.

What we do like to have is a base where everyone can come back to and we can set our engineers up in. That's why you can see now we cover that entire east coast, we're right up into Northern Territory very soon once we complete Shamrock, and also down into South Australia as well, where we have a really good, strong presence.

We can sort of get to all those regional projects that are coming from power, renewable projects, and also digital infrastructure projects.

Operator

Great, thanks, Joe. Just a question from Darcy at Jarden.

As free cash flow improves and CapEx moderates, what are the priorities for excess capital?

Scott McQueen

Look, our capital allocation framework priorities include reducing net debt. Obviously, while we're in the net debt position, we'll focus on allocating whatever free cash flow we can to reducing that.

We see delivering consistent returns to shareholders as a hallmark of a successful company, we're focused on that. Once we get beyond that, we look at M&A as an opportunistic allocation.

It needs to meet our hurdles. It needs to meet all the requirements of our own sectors and meet our strategic objectives.

Once we've got through those things, if there is excess free cash flow, we'll consider how we allocate that when it's there and available.

Operator

Great, thanks, Scott. Just a couple of questions on the DRP, being the first dividend where shareholders can elect to participate in DRP: why has the board chosen this dividend as the first whether DRP is triggered, and are the directors or founders planning to partake in the DRP?

Scott McQueen

I can certainly answer the first part of that. As the new CFO coming in, looking at the capital allocation framework, I noticed that the dividend plan was established, but not operational, and I felt it was appropriate to give shareholders a choice how they want to participate.

I suggested that to the board, and they were supportive of that, particularly given the passage of time since listing. In terms of how the founders will participate, look, I think they already own 70%, I think expecting them to reinvest is probably reducing the free float, not necessarily something that would be ideal, but that's their call and how they want to participate is up to them.

I'll hand over to Joe if he has anything he wants to add on that.

Joe Bartolo

Thanks, Scott. Look, definitely, that's the biggest consideration for us is always the liquidity of the stock and that free float balance.

For us, I can't speak for everybody, but my intentions would be not to participate. That's something that the dividends are helpful to me and my family.

That's where we sort of sit. In terms of the others, I can't comment for them.

Operator

Perfect. Thanks, Joe.

Just a question from Liam Schofield at Morgans. Can you please talk about your progress in winning or tendering Queensland projects?

Nabil Sadaka

Thanks, Liam. Our Queensland plan is right on track.

We're really excited about that state. $127 billion pipeline coming through allows us to continue to focus very much on quality of earnings rather than quantity.

That's something we've always done over our history, and during FY26, 99.75% of our revenue was profit-generating revenue, which shows a really targeted approach to what we do. With the organic and the M&A growth we've done in Queensland over the past 12 months, we're really happy with the progress we're making in that state.

It's right on track.

Operator

Great, thanks, Nabs. Just a question from Lochlan Woods at Canaccord.

Can you discuss the Eastern Freeway contract, including remaining work and revenue across '27 and '28? Should '27 growth accelerate as you cycle the weak first half contribution?

Nabil Sadaka

Thanks. We couldn't be happier with how Eastern Freeway is progressing.

We're 70% of the way through that project, and with it, we've had some incredible feats. We've lifted three of the biggest lifts in Victorian history, which are all three of the major crossings of the Eastern Freeway.

We've installed all the major bridge segments across the project. We're really excited about what's to come in the final parts of that project.

To be sitting here at 70% of the way through the project, knowing we're on budget and ahead of schedule, is just an incredible feat for our first multi-billion-dollar mega project.

Operator

Great. Thanks, Nabil.

Just a follow-up question from Lochlan at Canaccord. Any update on the four ECIs you have, or have you won any ECIs since your last result?

Nabil Sadaka

The ECIs, as we move into more energy ECIs and less infrastructure ECIs, they are more complicated to get across the line and get into a contract position. We're really excited by the ECIs we're working on, as we mentioned a couple of months ago, and we're hoping to have some more news in the coming period.

Operator

Great. Thanks, Nabil.

Just a question from John Hynd at Petra Capital. Can you talk through the $14.5 million in M&A costs in the period?

How much do you expect for the Shamrock in the first half of '27, and have the other one-off projects ceased?

Scott McQueen

Hey, thanks, John. The $14.5 million reflects a fairly heavy year in terms of M&A, four completed acquisitions.

There were obviously a number of potential acquisitions we worked through that didn't pass muster, and we don't do everything, obviously, and we're pretty disciplined in that regard. The actual costs reflect a combination of our internal team's time and effort that they put into it, as well as external consultants.

In regard to Shamrock, I think you can assume if we did four or five this year at that rate, that that one's going to be a similar proportional cost. Forgotten the last part of the question there, if there was something else.

Operator

I think that sums up perfectly, Scott. That concludes the Q&A segment.

I might just hand it back to you, Joe, for closing remarks.

Joe Bartolo

Thank you, Simon, and thanks, everyone, for staying on the line and listening today. I suppose just to finish off, FY26 was definitely a year of records, and regardless of the records, we invested as well heavily.

I think you can see some great results on the screen and what we've delivered. There's some headwinds that we were faced with as well, and I think we delivered exceptional results based on those headwinds, and in terms of fuel costs and escalation of materials.

I think it's real important to note that 25 years we've been in business, and we always make it work. We always do find there are headwinds every few years that we have to deal with, and our diversified business really gives us the ability to pivot, change, make the best margins that we possibly can during those periods.

We don't have any reliance on one sector, one state, or any one contract. That's definitely a strength for Symal.

The other part is that we always look for those opportunities in the market, and that's something that we've done with the selected end markets that we work in today. We see those real opportunities in digital infrastructure, energy, defense as our key priorities at the moment, utilities a secondary, and also what we see in that infrastructure space, we'll continue to drive within all those end markets.

The other important part, and we do get questions a lot, is, are we acquiring growth? We're definitely not.

We put organic first, and that's something that we're extremely proud of. We acquire these businesses to scale, which gives us more organic growth as well, but also gives us a lot more opportunity across the board to become the incumbent contractor in the regions or states or end markets that we work in.

We will continue with M&A, but it's all about what makes sense to us. It's making sure that they hit the key criterias of what we want them to do, and I've touched on that M&A previously, it's important.

Then probably the last one, too, is, as the largest shareholder of Symal, it's got to make sense to me, needs to make sense to Ray and Andrew as well, the other shareholders. We're always conscious of our shareholding and ensuring that we make the right decisions for the business.

Just lastly, we did get questions about if we're going to raise, and our intentions is that we don't want to raise capital. We're in a position where we have lots of balance sheet capacity, and we want to continue using that balance sheet wisely to make the right acquisitions.

If we do raise, we'll be obviously looking after our existing shareholders first. That's something that I just want to make sure everyone understands.

I think the last to close it all off is that we talked about a $200 million aspiration. You saw it's been dropped off the slides, and that was by 2030.

One thing's for certain is we're definitely going to hit that number a lot sooner than 2030. I think our results for FY26 and what we've got into for '27 really proves that.

Operator

Perfect. That concludes the call.

Thanks so much for joining, and thanks to the Symal team. Done.