Organic growth boosts MACA’s 1H earnings

MACA (ASX: MLD) was up 2% at the open following revelations this morning that the small-cap mining and civil construction company had boosted earning 73% in the first half, primarily due to organic growth (24%) and the Mining West business it had acquired in February 2021.

Despite tight labour markets, and border closures, the company’s revenue rose 80%, while net profit was up 79% to $20.8m.

Consistent with the year prior, MACA declared an interim dividend of 2.5 cents a share.

Highlights within today’s first half update included:

• Operating cash flow of 77% with cash at Dec 21 of $116.4m

• Strategic contract wins for Mining with Roy Hill Sienna (iron ore), Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS) extension (lithium); for Civil with Roy Hill and Sino Iron, and MACA interquip with North Gold Fields and Wiluna Mining (ASX: WMC)

• Strong tenure and work in hand position of $2.8bn across key growth sectors of gold, iron ore, battery minerals and govt works

• Full year guidance of $1.6bn for FY22

Roy Hill Milestone

The $70m contract to carry out open-pit mining at Roy Hill mid-December in WA’s Pilbara region marked a significant milestone for MACA, taking its contract pipeline to $3bn.

Commenting on the contract, CEO Mike Sutton recently noted:

“This project will be undertaken utilising existing fleet, contributes to MACA’s secured mining work in hand for FY22 (financial year 2022) and FY23 and further secures our strong position in the Pilbara region.”

The Roy Hill mine has an initial mine life of 17 years and is expected to produce 72m tonnes per annum of wet run-of-mine (ROM) ore feed for the processing plant, making it one of the Pilbara’s largest mines.

Consensus does not cover this stock.

Based on Morningstar’s fair value of $1.14, the company appears to be undervalued.

The stock was up around 5% going into lunch today.