Imdex Limited (IMD) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for standing by and welcome to the IMDEX FY '24 Full Year Results Call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Paul House, MD and CEO. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Darcy. Welcome everyone to IMDEX's 2024 full year results presentation. I'm delighted today to be joined by Paul Evans, our CFO; Linda Lim, our incoming CFO and our current Global Head of Finance; as well as Kym Clements, who heads up our Investor Relations. Throughout this call, I'll be referring to the investor presentation slides that have been released on the ASX this morning. Slide 3 highlights our purpose. IMDEX is a leading global mining tech company, distinguishing itself from the broader mining services sector in the following ways. We prioritize technical leadership as a key pillar of our growth strategy. We achieved this through consistent, disciplined investment in R&D. Our business model is characterized by being neither capital-intensive nor labor-intensive, yet truly global with minimal contract, commodity and geographic risks in our business model. And finally, we develop integrated solutions that collectively build a high-quality revenue base with resilient EBITDA margins. These strengths are more evident in our FY '24 results than ever before. Historically, our customers had to make substantial investment in mine planning decisions with limited visibility. Today, IMDEX's technologies and geoscience expertise can provide those critical insights, provide a more complete understanding of ore bodies. The image on Slide 4 illustrates how we turn the lights on inside an ore body and unlock the rich data that it contains. This heightened visibility enables our customers to make better decisions and to make faster decisions. Through the delivery of real-time ore body knowledge, we can help the mining industry execute with precision, confidence and speed. Today's presentation agenda is set out on Slide 5. We will focus on 4 key areas. Our financial, strategic and ESG highlights; a deeper dive into our financial performance, which Paul Evans will provide; a strategic focus areas for FY '25; finally, the market outlook and how IMDEX remains positioned to outperform. Following the presentation, we are happy to take any questions. Turning now to Slide 7 and our financial highlights. FY '24 was another record year for IMDEX with group revenue of $445 million, an 8% increase on the prior period. This achievement is particularly noteworthy given the 24% decline in exploration drilling activity as measured by S&P drill hole data. This outperformance underscores the strength of our business model. The $70 million revenue contribution from Devico is also a highlight, growing 14% on pcp and exemplifying its strategic importance and our ability to deliver in spite of market pressure. Their technologies within our group have been essential to this outperformance. Normalized EBITDA of $131 million reflects this strength, delivering an EBITDA margin of 29.4% in line with our prior period. This margin stability is once again a testament to disciplined cost management, the benefits of our Devico integration and improved gross margin delivery in both sensors and fluids. As important as a strong P&L result is a strong balance sheet. As a reminder, we established a $120 million debt facility to support the Devico transaction. With net debt today standing at $35 million, I'm pleased to report that we are on track for an accelerated paydown of this full year facility. This result was driven by our strong working capital position, including improved inventory levels, excellent operating cash flow and disciplined operational rigor in a market that has been impacted by high inflation and rising costs. Paul will provide further details in our balance sheet shortly. Finally, our Board has declared a final fully franked dividend of $0.013 per share. This is in line with our capital management policy, which has stood steady, targeting a 30% normalized NPAT payout ratio. Turning to Slide 8 to review our strategic highlights for FY '24. Firstly, I'm incredibly proud of our global teams for successfully integrating the Devico team and technologies while maintaining a strong focus on our core growth strategy. We completed the operational integration of Devico ahead of schedule in 1H '24, achieving greater synergies than initially anticipated, an outstanding accomplishment. Being a significant investment and one so closely aligned to our core, this integration effort touched every part of the IMDEX business, from product and engineering, to our shared services and every operational team around the world. Within our core business, we've expanded our survey technology stack, leading to a significant increase in the deployment of DeviGyros across our network. This success reflects both our market share gains and the enhancements we've made to our own survey technology. New OMNIx gyros are now the fastest-growing sensors in our fleet and contributed to our sensor fleet ARPU uplift of 7%. Importantly, their improved running gear, not only enhances safety, but also speeds up survey operations. Moving to our strategic pillar of integrated solutions, our efforts here continue to gain momentum. The integration of Devico's directional drilling has unlocked new projects across the U.S.A., Africa and Australia, capitalizing on IMDEX extensive customer network. The feedback from new customers and the growing pipeline of trials continue to present significant opportunities. I'm pleased to report that 48% of our top 250 customers now use more than 3 IMDEX products in a solution-based approach, which is up from 46% in FY '23. Looking now at our new growth business units on the right, digital and IMDEX Mining Technologies. We've made significant strides in our digital business. Currently, 28% of our sensor and SaaS revenue is connected to IMDEX HUB-IQ with a 10% increase in connected customers year-over-year. Notably, we have now also integrated Devico sensors into HUB-IQ, an important milestone in the integration activity. Strategic investments in Datarock and Krux are yielding strong results. Datarock has doubled its SaaS activity and was recognized as the InvestMETS Start-Up of the Year. This is a fabulous and well-deserved accolade for their team. Similarly, Krux has doubled its SaaS activity and secured new global contracts with resource companies and drilling companies both. The start-up trajectory of these investments has been impressive and we expect them to continue as they further leverage the IMDEX network and execute their vision. Finally, our IMT business is continuing its organic expansion into the adjacent mining production space, showing positive momentum. We've increased the number of installed BHS sites, expanded our presence in the underground survey market and made steady progress with the commercialization of BLASTDOG trials. Regardless of market conditions, IMDEX's strategy, product suite and market positioning enable us to continue to outperform. The success we are seeing with Devico, Krux, Datarock and the adoption of our integrated R&D solutions confirm that we are on the right path and the results for FY '24 bear that out strongly. Turning now to our sustainability highlights on Slide 9. IMDEX has maintained an ESG working group within the executive leadership team for the past 4 years. Recognizing the growing importance of sustainability to our people, our shareholders and our customers, we formalized this effort in FY '24 by establishing a dedicated Sustainability Board Committee. Our sustainability strategy continues to be built around 5 key pillars: people, innovation, environment, society and governance. Whilst great progress was made across a number of areas, I seek to draw your attention to just a selection of the highlights. Starting with people, we maintained strong safety engagement and performance even as our field-based workforce continue to grow. We successfully piloted our first diversity, equity and inclusion measures, which highlighted respect, wellbeing and a culture of care at IMDEX as being one of the most important features of our workforce. Additionally, we improved our overall Gallup employee engagement score, increasing it to 3.88. Moving on to innovation, we enhanced the user experience of our core products by making OMNIx running gear lighter by 21%, developing an underground survey deployment system for BOLT to reduce safety risks in a high-risk work environment. For environment, we made significant progress in increasing the percentage of recyclable and reusable packaging across our products. Today, over 95% of our drilling optimization product packaging is now recyclable and more than 95% of our rock knowledge sensor packaging is reusable. In our society pillar, we established a community engagement policy, launched a global volunteering program with strong workforce participation so far and conducted our Better Together diversity and inclusion workshops that have been attended by over 400 employees since launched. And finally, governance, where we welcome Tracey Horton as a new Non-Executive Director to the IMDEX Board. That completes the highlights for FY '24, and I'll now hand over to Paul Evans to discuss the financials in more detail.

Thank you, Paul. Building on Paul's overview, I'd like to delve deeper into some of the key metrics on Slide 11. As Paul mentioned, FY '24 represents the first full year of Devico's contribution. You will recall that first H '23 was strong. The current decline in exploration activity commenced in 2H '23 and has continued throughout FY '24, as has been well documented over the past 18 months. These key metrics are a wonderful result, notwithstanding this backdrop. We typically prefer not to normalize our results. However, for FY '24, in line with our 1H '24 reporting, we have excluded $17.8 million in significant items. This includes $10.4 million related to the Devico integration and includes the organizational redesign costs, plus $7.4 million from the impairment of MAGHAMMER. To expand on these items, firstly, the Devico integration, I'm pleased to report that the integration of Devico is ahead of schedule. With the operational integration now complete, we're already seeing revenue and cost synergies. In 1H '24, we successfully executed a major organizational redesign, leading to cost reductions in 2H '24 and into FY '25. As shown on the slide, we are reinvesting these savings to further strengthen our position for the market upturn. Secondly, MAGHAMMER impairment. During 1H '24, we progressed the divestment of MAGHAMMER. However, global macroeconomic uncertainty caused a broader slowdown in M&A activity within the mining tech sector. As announced in our first half result, we withdrew the asset from the market and conservatively recognized a noncash impairment for the remaining balance of MAGHAMMER, which had been classified as an asset held for sale. Our normalized NPATA stands at $55.6 million, reflecting a 2% decrease from the prior corresponding period. This figure excludes significant items and acquired amortization, with the increase in amortization principally related to the Devico acquisition. I will provide a more detailed overview of our capital management performance later in the presentation. But lastly, I'd like to highlight that our full-time employee count decreased from 851 at 30 June 2023 to 816 at 30 June 2024, reflecting the outcomes of the organizational redesign and our cost management. On Slide 12, you can see our annual revenue performance since FY '20, which highlights our consistent upward trajectory. To the right of the graph, you can also see the contribution from Devico since completion on 28 February 2023. As Paul highlighted earlier, Devico's revenue increased by 14% to $70 million compared to the normalized FY '23 revenue, assisted by leveraging the global IMDEX network. It's particularly pleasing to note that our higher gross margin revenue from sensors and SaaS now constitutes 64% of total revenue, up from 60% in FY '23. This growth is impressive, especially given the 24% decline in drilling activity for FY '24. Despite this market challenge, IMDEX earning revenue declined by just 4% over the same period. This result underscores our ability to consistently outpace industry performance and reflects the increasing resilience of the IMDEX business model. Furthermore, our 5-year CAGR -- revenue CAGR stands at 12.8%. This compares favorably to the S&P exploration expenditure, which has seen a CAGR of approximately 5.6% over a similar period. Moving to Slide 13 and Devico's revenue performance. The 14% revenue increase includes a 15% rise from the directional drilling and a 12% rise from sensors. To clarify, the normalized FY '23 revenue includes Devico's contribution for the 4 months ending June '23, plus an average of the 8 months of calendar year '22 revenue. This strong result shows our success in leveraging Devico's offerings within the IMDEX client base and global network, especially as we transition sensor sales to the higher margin IMDEX rental model. While 2H '24 declined by 7% compared to the first half due to the softer market conditions, we highlighted or we mitigated, sorry, the impact by significantly expanding directional drilling into new markets and acquiring new customers. Notably, we have an increasing number of directional drilling contracts in Australia. Looking ahead and as previously flagged, we will fully integrate Devico's performance into our overall results going forward. Turning to Slide 14 and our revenue growth by region. Americas remains our largest region, making up 48% of total revenue in FY '24 with a 2% increase. Devico's introduction has boosted our presence in Europe, while the Europe and Africa plus Asia Pacific regions now each account for 26% of total revenue. It is important to note that Devico's performance here reflects a full 12 months compared to only 4 months in FY '23. Overall, our [Technical Difficulty] was driven by strong demand for integrated solutions and the positive impact of Devico's technologies. However, the market slowdown was more pronounced in Australia and Canada, with revenues down by about 15% and 4%, respectively. This decline was partly offset by strong performance in U.S. and South America. Turning to Slide 15, we see our consecutive yearly EBITDA performance since FY '20, highlighting a consistent trend of margin stability despite recent lower activity levels. This reinforces the stronger earnings resilience of the IMDEX business model and supports our objective of achieving baseline EBITDA margins of around 30%. Several factors have driven this performance. Firstly, we've expanded our margins through the introduction of new product releases and integrated solutions across our global network. The increased weighting of sensors and SaaS revenue, where higher margin sensors and software have grown, has lifted our overall gross margin. We've maintained disciplined cost management while continuing to invest in R&D, most of which is expensed to support both our core business and new growth initiatives in IMT and digital. The expanded sensor stack and introduction of directional drilling to existing IMDEX customers and markets have contributed positively. And finally, we realized cost synergies from our integration efforts, including the finalization of the organizational redesign. I am pleased to confirm that we exceeded the $2 million in annualized cost synergies identified at the time of the acquisition, further enhancing our operational efficiency. Our FY '24 normalized EBITDA margin of 29.4% was in line with the previous corresponding period. The decline in 2H '24 was primarily driven by slower activity compared to the first half, though, we benefited from the organizational redesign and other benefits already mentioned. Turning to Slide 16, where we highlight a key aspect of IMDEX's DNA, our commitment to R&D across all market conditions. This investment is crucial for maintaining our technology leadership and continuing to deliver value to our customers. In FY '24, we expensed $34.4 million on product development and capitalized $2.5 million related to software. This represents 8.3% of total revenue and a 12% increase in total R&D expenditure compared to FY '23. Our investment remains -- level remains in line with industry benchmarks and reflects a conservative approach for a growth-orientated company. Notably, this year's R&D investment has accelerated the development of IMT, BLASTDOG and the rollout of new rock knowledge sensors, including ACTx and [Technical Difficulty]. Additionally, our investment in HORIZON 1 has increased over the past few years as we advance the commercialization of next-generation core products. As Paul highlighted, our HORIZON 1 spend has supported the release of several cutting-edge products this year. Turning to Slide 17, which highlights our disciplined approach to capital management. From our reported EBITDA of $113 million, we generated $108 million in operating cash flow, an impressive 96% conversion rate, pre-tax, 112%, exceeding historical levels and highlighting our effective working capital management. We invested $29 million in property, plant, and equipment, primarily focused on the development of next-generation sensors. This investment is expected to continue into FY '25. Additionally, we repaid $43 million in borrowings, accelerating the repayment of our debt facilities. Briefly turning to our balance sheet on Slide 18. I've already addressed our working capital balances. However, I would like to highlight 2 other items. Borrowings reflects the outstanding amount on our $120 million debt facility previously mentioned introduced in second half of '23 to support the Devico acquisition. Following the accelerated repayment in FY '24, our net leverage ratio stands comfortably at 0.3x normalized EBITDA and well within our target of 1x, while the interest cover on normalized earnings remains robust at 6x. Our intangibles now include finalized purchase price accounting estimates for Devico, comprising $230 million in goodwill and $100 million in other intangibles. It is our view, our balance sheet and our business today are positioned to support further M&A, should an opportunity arise. Our return on equity and return on capital employed metrics were strong for the period, particularly in light of our investments in long-term growth initiatives. As Paul mentioned, our fully franked final dividend of $0.013 per share for FY '24 is consistent with our historical payout ratio. I'll now hand back to Paul to recap our strategy and focus areas for FY '25.

Thank you, Paul. Turning to Slide 20. In FY '24, IMDEX continued to make significant progress across all 4 of its strategic pillars. Our technology leadership and integrated solutions are now enhanced by Devico's sensors and directional drilling capabilities. Concurrently, our emerging IMT and digital business units are leveraging our core sensor expertise to develop applications for the mining production market. These products are complemented by advanced geoscience analytics, AI, and computer visualization technologies. IMDEX's strategy remains robust, proving its resilience. Our comprehensive product suite and expanding market position, all ensure continued outperformance. The strong performance of Devico, Krux, and Datarock, along with the rapid adoption of our new R&D solutions continues to validate our strategy. Turning to Slide 21, our focus for the remaining -- for the remainder of FY '25. Protecting and developing our people remains our #1 priority. This year, we will elevate our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and enhancing our broader workforce capabilities. Our investment in Digital 2.5 is designed to build on the success of Digital 1.0. Our systems play an ever-increasing role in the delivery of value to our customers. Investing to improving their scalability and security is a rapidly growing requirement of our marketplace. Our core business remains our biggest asset and the foundation from which we explore new opportunities to advance our integrated solutions. And finally, continuing to invest in new business growth. Our investments across IMT and our digital portfolios continue to surpass the milestones we have set for them and continue to warrant the ongoing investment to support their growth and commercialization. Slide 22 highlights the critical role our integrated solutions play in driving customer value and increasing IMDEX' share of exploration spend. On the left of the slide, you can see how our IMDEX revenue per $100 spent on exploration has grown significantly. In calendar year '18, we earned $1.40 in IMDEX revenue for every $100 spent in exploration drilling. In calendar year '23, this figure increased to $2.10 across our whole business. This growth reflects the opportunity that comes from bundling our individual technology offerings into these integrated solutions for our clients. The pie chart to the right illustrates, by way of a case study, how a project utilizing a suite of integrated solutions can generate in excess of $8 in IMDEX revenue per $100 spent on that exploration program. So, how do these solutions add value to IMDEX? With our existing portfolio of products, and within the existing market size, we have considerable headroom for growth. As highlighted with the case study, there is a potential revenue uplift per project of around 4x our current average. Considering the size of this opportunity, we are targeting initially an addressable market in excess of 1,000 drill rigs. As our product portfolio grows, this potential revenue uplift grows. And as the exploration market grows, so too our potential revenue grows further. Of course, key to unlocking this potential is the demonstration of real value to the customer of these integrated solutions. In summary, our integrated solutions strategy is a key driver of market outperformance, positioning us to fully capitalize on this expanding opportunity. The results for FY '24 have borne this out. The sub-heading on Slide 24 encapsulates what we are currently seeing in our regions. Starting with North America, activity remains consistent, mainly focused on near-mine projects. However, Mexico remains subdued, and in Canada, junior activity is lagging due to persistent funding challenges. Interestingly, in this market we are seeing some examples of a reduction in drill rig pricing, although labor restraints are real. In South America, demand for near-mine copper projects is driving steady demand for drilling. Argentina shows a positive trend, with increased mining investment confidence following the recent change in government. Africa continues to see stable activity, especially in gold and copper projects, driven by major players in brownfield projects with a strong focus on underground drilling. We continue to remain cautious regarding Mali and the DRC, given the ongoing political uncertainty, they remain positive in the near- and medium-term. In Europe, activity remains stable, particularly with brownfield projects. And there is potential for growth in critical metals, due to the sanctions on supply coming out of Russian. Australia shows significant changes since we last -- shows no significant changes since we last updated the market, with junior activity remaining subdued, echoing the same funding challenges that we see in Canada. The green shoots that we do see in capital raisings are supporting continuation drilling at this time, rather than any significant expansion of drilling activity, although the intentions in this area remain strong. In Asia, activity is relatively stable, with noticeable increases in PNG and the Philippines. In summary, across these key regions, while challenges persist, we do expect consistent activity for the balance of 1H '25, with pockets of growth potential, particularly in South America and Asia. Turning now to how we see the outlook on Slide 25, which is guided by 4 key indicators. We closely monitor the supply and demand drivers for key commodities, particularly copper and gold, which account for approximately 75% of all exploration activity. The continued decline in proven reserves for these commodities are well-documented and are projected to extend into the next decade. Additionally, the long-term demand for cobalt, nickel, and lithium remains robust, driven by global decarbonization goals, which remain on foot. We anticipate that the decline in supply, and the forecasted increase in demand, will ultimately support commodity price growth. In turn, exploration budgets for producers should become well-funded and should enable juniors access to capital. Today, we see the first of these traffic light signals as green, green and amber. Ultimately, they all line up to drive an increase in exploration activity. It is worth remembering that total exploration expenditure in calendar year 12 was north of USD 21 billion compared to circa USD 12 billion today, providing significant headroom for growth in the medium- to long-term. As exploration projects become more complex, the value of IMDEX's solutions to our customers increases. Enhancing productivity in the exploration business will be essential, and IMDEX is well-positioned to lead in this area. Turning to Slide 26, I'd like to highlight how we see growth opportunities, separating growth drivers that we control from external market drivers. Starting with market share gains on the left. We're expanding our market share and we create new markets through the growth of our integrated solutions, including directional drilling. This expansion is supported by our broader technology stack and increased geographical presence that have all uncovered over the last 2 years. Moving to margin expansion. We remain focused on increasing our margins by growing our core business. This includes leveraging Devico revenue synergies, maintaining our technology leadership, and increasing revenue from our higher-margin sensors and software. Finally, there was IMDEX growth upside. Concurrently, we are pursuing long-term growth opportunities in the digital, IMT spaces that can be further supplemented by M&A looking ahead. The box on the far right of the slide represents factors outside of direct IMDEX control. The long-term market fundamentals, however, indicate an investment in exploration will continue to drive market growth. Notably, global exploration budgets for calendar year '24 and '25 remain below the 2012 peak, suggesting room for further expansion. Finally, on Slide 27, I would like to leave you with our summary of highlights from FY '24. Our FY '24 performance demonstrates our ability to outperform challenging market conditions while delivering strong financial results. We achieved an 8% increase in revenue and a 7% uplift in normalized EBITDA, despite a 24% decline in exploration drilling activity, which had been impacted by the ongoing high-cost operating environment. Obviously, a key highlight was the successful integration of Devico and its technologies into the IMDEX global network is a credit to the culture of the entire workforce and the realization of both cost and revenue synergies are being delivered ahead of schedule. We maintained our EBITDA margins, even as we introduced new and next-generation technologies, and we expanded our directional drilling capabilities across the globe. And finally, we continued to invest in R&D, our digital strategy and our IMT growth initiatives. Finally, highlights around our disciplined capital management are evident with our cash conversion -- strong cash conversion ratio, accelerated debt repayment and our maintenance of consistent R&D and NPAT dividend payout ratios. While we expect activity to remain steady throughout 1H '25, the drivers are signaling an upturn, and supported by strong long-term industry fundamentals. The final comment, you may have seen that last Friday, we announced a settlement agreement with Boart Longyear, allowing both parties to reach a mutually agreeable outcome to the long running patent litigation. This allows us to focus on working together to improve productivity on behalf of Boart Longyear and their clients. We are delighted with the outcome and look positively ahead for working together. And with that, I'm delighted to conclude today's presentation. Paul and I are open to take onboard any questions. I'll hand back to you, Darcy.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from William Park from Citi.

Can I just get a sense as to a split between IMDEX and Devico at the EBITDA level? Previously you've disclosed that. Just can't find that in the releases.

Yes, William, as we were flagging in the first half release, we -- as we've accelerated that integration effort, we're no longer reliably able to separate Devico out. So that's not in the presentation, and that will be how we go forward into FY '25. Really, I think the best indication that we provided is to understand the first half EBITDA outcome, and using that as a benchmark would give you some guidance.

And can I just confirm the ARPU growth of 7%? Does that relate to both IMDEX and Devico? Or is it just IMDEX?

It relates to both. So in this presentation, unlike the first half and prior presentations, where it was IMDEX-only sensors, this -- all the sensor references here are, including Devico, given that they're now on IMDEX HUB-IQ. And, yes, the pcp has been restated. That's what you also need to know.

Yes. Then is it fair to say that the ARPU momentum that we've seen in the first 9 months of FY '24 for IMDEX-based business? I know, I appreciate that it's quite difficult to call out IMDEX separately, but that 5% ARPU growth in the first 9 months have effectively continued through in fourth quarter. Is that a reasonable assumption?

That is.

And William, I would point to my comment that the new OMNIx gyros that we've released out, which is the fastest-growing sensor in our fleet, is one example of what is driving that.

Just one last one from me. Can we give some color around when that $10 million of payment that you called out from resolving all that global dispute with Boart Longyear will be paid? Has that been paid already? Or just wondering some timing around that.

It has been paid.

Your next question comes from Josh Kannourakis from Barrenjoey.

First one, just with regard to, I guess, the sort of outlook expectations into next year. So, can we just work around in terms of some of the moving parts in terms of cost base and revenue expectations? And, I guess, if we sort of annualize where the business is at, and I guess, what we're saying activity levels are still, does that give you still reasonable comfort around consensus for next year? Or how should we be sort of looking at what that expectation translates into versus sort of financial expectations?

Yes, I think, I might start, Josh, and I'll hand over to Paul. But I think when we look at activity, obviously, one of the things we're looking to see is, whether we see any continued decline in market activity. And what we're calling out is that, we do not see any further decline as we go into 1H '25. And the purpose of sort of outlining those traffic light signals for the broader market behavior are indicating that there's risk to the upside around those. So we're just really looking at the capital being allocated, or sorry, the expiration budgets being allocated by producers will become much more visible to us in about October, November. The capital raisings for juniors are a bit more visible month on month, as you would well know. And then for us internally, the business has been through a significant reorganization last year in response to both the market conditions and the integration of Devico. So looking forward, we expect that to remain pretty steady. But I'll let Paul just round out the answer to your question.

Yes. So I think the steady and following, it would be fair to say normal seasonal trends that we see is expected. But, obviously, we're operating at a lower run rate level, which has really shown that performance into FY '25. From an expense point of view, if you're understanding our operating profile, understanding that the org redesign has occurred and we've seen the benefits of that. With the cost profile of the business, you can see that we do have a lower cost base really in the second half of '24, which flows into '25. And we obviously are carefully watching the market signals at the moment to understand just how that progresses before we push some of those initiatives off.

Got it. So, I guess, like wrapping that together, it sort of sounds like if absolutely nothing changed, there's consensus sort of $130 million, $135 million, if absolutely nothing changes, there's sort of maybe a tiny bit of downside risk there. But it sounds like broadly comfortable with those sort of expectations.

Yes. Look, I think, right, and unfortunately, we need to wait for the budgets for the majors really around that October, November time to get some sense for calendar year '25 drilling. And, obviously, the second part of that is just understanding how the new year, post-Christmas, how the drilling period starts up then. But at this stage, we're seeing no signals to deviate from what we described.

I think we -- I mean, I think consensus was only updated sometime in mid-June, really. And so, the difference between then and now hasn't materially changed in terms of those, any further insight into exploration budgets. And so, we remain as -- looking forward, as confident now as we did then.

Got it. No, that's super helpful. And then just a final one just around the Boart Longyear, the finalization of that agreement. So you mentioned the $10 million has come in. I assume that's obviously after the balance date. But can we also just talk about the -- in terms of, I guess, some of the opportunity, like, do you know what the sort of, I guess, where the approximate customer overlap is? And maybe just a little bit more detail, if there's anything else you can give us, because I think there's some sort of component royalty as well, around their products that you use. But also maybe is there some opportunity for you guys to obviously assist in with their customers, with your products further on their sites? Like, I'm just trying to gauge a little bit of the materiality of this partnership, I guess, on a go-forward basis.

Yes. So, look, the -- if I just touch on the royalties first, I mean, as part of the global tech arrangement, the -- there are a number of patents in that global tech portfolio that are licensed by Boart Longyear. So there's a royalty stream that is available through that arrangement. Importantly, the portfolio of global tech patents is now available to be complementing the IMDEX portfolio of patents. And so, one of the significant areas of future value, which is hard to put a number on is, where we've had to design around other intellectual property, we can now design with that intellectual property. So the next generation of products will benefit from the layering and integration of those 2 patent portfolios. And so, that should provide some great opportunities for next-generation products as we look forward. As to the commercial opportunities in working with Boart Longyear, so the terms of that are commercial incompetence and they are still being rolled out by region around the world as we work with Boart Longyear. But, obviously, to the extent that Boart Longyear is the world's preeminent drilling service provider, the opportunity for us to partner with them in a more engaged manner is the upside potential.

Your next question comes from Nicholas Rawlinson from Morgans.

Base business revenue was down 7% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, and that was better than the 9% decline we saw in 3Q. We've had a few industry updates, basically saying that volumes are sort of returning to more neutral year-on-year trends in May and June. Did you guys notice the exit rate was a bit stronger than when you started the quarter? Like, did it pick up through May and June at all? Or was it pretty consistent?

Consistent, I think. I mean, yes, steady is the word we're using here. And so, nothing materially different from what our previous update provided.

So I think, Nicholas, it's worth remembering. Obviously, with the decline in market activity that we've seen in the last 12 months, the 1 July starting point was slightly below the 1 July starting point in the prior year. Having said that, obviously, the IMDEX's outperformance in FY '24 is because of the way we have managed to shield ourselves from some of that market decline through solution selling. And so, Paul's comment around steady is really us saying, as long as that market activity is steady, we're in a position to be able to keep engaging with customers and look for those opportunities.

Okay. And just following on from that earlier question on the Boart Longyear opportunity. Do you guys sort of know what wallet share you have on Boart Longyear's fleet? Are you guys underrepresented there?

Look, we work with Boart Longyear more in some regions than others. They're obviously a large global drilling service provider. And so, we do have a bit of a working view on that. But at this time we still need to continue on post-settlement and sit with Boart Longyear and work through what that opportunity and partnership looks like.

And what about the legal cost savings? Because you guys usually run at sort of $4 million legal costs. I presume a big proportion of that's Boart Longyear. Could you give us some indication there?

Yes. Look, hopefully, half of that pleasingly should go away.

Although just in this half, obviously, there's a little bit of cleanup as we just put those global agreements together with the relevant IMDEX and Boart Longyear entities around the world to be able to provide those supply services, that's less material, I would say.

Okay. Just my last one. Could you give us a bit of an update on the new core tool? How has it been received by customers so far? And is it actually out in the field yet?

Yes, it is out in the field. The responses are very pleasing. So we are -- as we have often said, we look for the introduction of new technologies to test whether they provide higher value, and therefore, command higher price points. And so far that is being validated. It could only be validated if that value was being recognized by our clients. And so far that is the case. So we're at the early stages of that rollout. But yes, we're very pleased with how the technology works, what the commercial value is that's being recognized, and most importantly, the fact that it's HUB-IQ connected, which means that there is now a data trail that is auditable and traceable.

Your next question comes from Evan Karatzas from UBS.

Look, obviously, the revenue is pretty hard to predict in this current market, but just sort of picking up on that comment you made how the 1 July starting point is below the starting point last year. Can you give any, I guess, additional quantification on that? Like how much exactly it's down, just to give us some idea of where you are currently, if that's possible?

Yes, look, I think you can see that first half, second half profile in our result. And I think the sensor numbers show that we're slightly down, again, as Paul mentioned on the pcp, which we've got in the deck. So that was my earlier comment around, we expect that seasonal trending profile of our business as we go into FY '25, but we do sit at that lower activity level.

Okay. All right. Fair enough. Just on the -- I guess, the sustainability of the 2H GP margin as well. Like is that -- should we be expecting that to be sort of like a new baseline for the business going forward, just with all the initiatives you're putting through, increased SaaS, increased sensor sales, and it was pretty strong in the second half, almost 73%. Is that a new baseline for the business going forward?

Yes. Evan, I want to -- I'm pleased you've asked that. I just want to clarify. Historically, we've obviously had the raw materials out of the accounts being very representative of what our cost of sales were. As we now stand up DCD, the way we're looking at that, there is a labor component that is captured, that is in a separate line in the accounts now. And there's about just over $10 million of labor that should be captured into our -- what we think of as our gross margin. So when I think of gross margin, I am looking at an increase year-on-year up about 1% to just under 70% if you capture that at labor. So, we'll need to become a bit smarter as to how we talk and show that going forward. But just to call that out, and 73% is not the way we talk about the business, it is sitting just below 70% overall if you capture that DCD labor.

I think, though, on an apples-for-apples basis, the gross margins that we see in our sensors and fluids portfolios more broadly have improved and will stay at that improved level. And that's a reflection of both the continued engineering activities around next-generation technologies and a lot of discipline that's been put into the working capital networks, particularly for fluids, where we rationalized our SKUs and our logistics operations and we started to look at some of those high-margin fluid products going out into the market.

Yes. I get that element of it. So I may have to take this off-line, a bit more confused now. So you're saying there was $10 million of costs that was of COGS that went into the operating cost. Is that what you're saying?

It's in that employee expense line. Yes.

So your -- I think it was...

Just the directional drilling workforce.

Yes.

That's what I said, yes.

So your operating cost was $92 million?

And it might be -- yes, it might be good to take this one off-line, but that is -- if you adjust for significant items on that as well, that'll bring it down a little bit lower than that. Yes.

Okay. That's all right. We'll take it off-line.

Your next question comes from Joseph House from Bell Potter.

Just a few questions from me. Firstly, I was just looking at the Devico revenue growth. Could you provide a breakdown on how much of that growth is driven by clients being pushed up to tech stack to the Devico's sensors from the lower tier IMDEX sensors? And how much of the growth is due to market share gains and organic growth outside of the tech stack upgrades?

Yes. So we haven't called that out, but I can say that in broad terms, more than half of it is market share gains. And the opportunity, therefore, looking forward is further technology stack upgrade gains.

Great. That's clear. And just can you provide some color on the conversations you're having currently with your major gold miners? Just noticed the gold prices have lifted to record levels over the past few months. Miners are reporting strong growth in their operating margins. Do you see the majors continuing to kind of focus on cost-out initiatives for much longer?

Yes. So great question. So we think the rising cost environment is, I would say, very real and very baked in, but we do think we're seeing the end of that cost out kind of focus. We are seeing conversations around productivity coming in, being elevated, and for us, that's really positive. And so, those positive productivity conversations, we expect now to be leading signals for what we should look for in the budgets that come out as we get to October and November. So we're happy with the conversations we're having. We're happy with the -- with what that outlook looks like. Of course, we wait to see what actually happens in October, November.

Great. That's positive. And maybe just lastly, just looking at BLASTDOG, are you able to provide any updates on the current commercial trials over the half of the year? Just keen to get an understanding of when you might kind of receive sufficient commercial information to progress this product into full-scale commercialization.

Yes, so I think technically we've moved that product into commercial now. And increasingly those trials, we've had commercial trials that we wanted to move into commercial activities or purchase orders rather than contracts is the way we've been guiding the market to think about it in the past. And so, that's continued well, so those commercial purchase orders continue to get renewed or expanded with existing clients and we continue to see a pipeline of trials either in process or in the pipeline for new clients. And so, across all of those signals, we've only seen positive guidance in the last 12 months. We haven't had any of the negative setbacks that were such -- that were probably in the headlines the year before that. And so, it's a little bit of steady as she goes. We're very happy with how methodically that's being executed.

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] There are no final questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr. House for closing remarks.

Thanks, Darcy. I'd simply like to wrap up by highlighting that IMDEX's growth strategy and its ability to outperform in all market conditions has been a feature of the FY '24 year and a thorough test of that strategy and that claim that we've made. This would not be possible without the hard work, focus and alignment of our teams around the world. And to them, I extend my thanks and recognition. We have strategically positioned the IMDEX business to capitalize on what we see as an inevitable market upturn, and we are investing in long-term revenue and earnings growth opportunities that will continue to build resilience against industry cycles. And so, on behalf of all of our IMDEX team, I'd like to express my thanks to our shareholders for their support, and I look forward to keeping you updated in the year that unfolds in front of us.

Thank you. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.