Hercules Site Services PLC (AIM:HERC) CEO Brusk Korkmaz and chief financial officer Paul Wheatcroft talked with Proactive's Stephen Gunnion about the company's strong 2024 financial performance and future growth prospects.
Proactive: Hello, you’re watching Proactive. I'm joined by Hercules Site Services CEO Brusk Korkmaz, as well as Chief Financial Officer Paul Wheatcroft. Brusk, Paul, very good to speak with you. I’ll start with you, Brusk. It sounds like a really positive trading update. Can you take us through it?
Brusk Korkmaz: Thank you very much, Stephen. It was a really good year for us. Obviously, we can't get into too much detail before our full-year results are issued next year, which will be on the 13th of January. But until then, we came up with this announcement because we had such a record year.
Amazing. Busy. All of our team has been performing really well. And the main headline is that we expect to hit revenues of more than £105 million for the year ended September 2024. This is a record for Hercules and a 24% increase on the prior year, where we saw sales of £84.7 million.
Also, on a personal level, Stephen, it’s very important for us because I started this journey 16 years ago from a family spare bedroom, and hitting the £100 million mark - I never thought of that. It's a huge credit to our team, and I’m very proud of it.
Proactive: Paul, just getting into the figures. What does this mean for the markets and for Hercules?
Paul Wheatcroft: Yeah, well, Stephen, it means that we're beating market expectations, not just on revenue, but on adjusted EBITDA and pre-tax profit as well. In fact, the consensus from analysts for the financial year 2024 for revenue was £95.1 million, adjusted EBITDA of £4.5 million, and pre-tax profit of £0.6 million. So, the announcement's clear: we’re well ahead of all three.
We’re very pleased with that. Each of the core divisions within the business has delivered increased organic revenues, underpinned by the company's ability to capitalize on continued growth in the infrastructure and construction sectors. As Brusk mentioned, we're expecting to report another record year when we do our results in January, showing that Hercules has continued to grow from strength to strength.
Proactive: Brusk, this obviously comes after the news that the company raised £8 million. Can you update people on that?
Brusk Korkmaz: Yeah, thank you, Stephen. As we mentioned recently, the company raised £8 million through a placing and subscription. The fundraising showed strong confidence in Hercules as we work to strengthen our balance sheet and seize market opportunities. As you're aware, Stephen, there’s quite a lot of investment coming into the UK infrastructure market. Over £750 billion in investments are being made.
On top of that, further investments are coming up, including projects like net-zero Teesside and Sizewell C nuclear plants, along with many power and transmission projects. We believe that with these investments, as well as macroeconomic conditions getting better, we are well-placed in the market to grow further.
Proactive: That's great. And, Paul, overall, how would you sum up the announcement?
Paul Wheatcroft: Well, we're thrilled to have delivered growth well ahead of the market's expectations for the year, once again reaching new record highs and adding to a proven track record of achieving significant year-on-year growth. I think this is a testament to the team’s ability to seize exciting organic growth opportunities, such as our entry into new labor supply markets and the highly acclaimed launch of the Hercules Construction Academy, as well as executing on opportunities presented through recent M&A.
So, we think we have a lot to look forward to in the financial year 2025.