[ad_1]
The AGM had dozens of people in attendance at Brisbane’s Pullman Hotel as COVID-19 fears thin and in-person meetings return.
Shares rose 23¢ to $12.08 in afternoon trade.
Mr Naran said the guidance partly reflected demand for the company’s life-science division continuing to improve.
Another supporting factor was the mining boom.
“We’ve continued to see strong sample volume growth in our geochemistry and commodity business,” he said on the sidelines of the AGM.
“The move towards alternative energy and as the world moves to decarbonisation, there’s really a demand for all the base metals, all the battery or energy metals.”
Mr Naran argued that this was sustainable given a widespread push for decarbonisation or demand for electric vehicles, copper and battery technology.
He said ALS, which has more than 17,000 staff, already had the technology and capability at its labs to meet this energy-metals demand.
ALS is also bulking up through acquisitions. It offered $82 million in June for local laboratory business HRL as part of a push into dairy and honey testing, and last year it bought geochemistry business MinAnalytical for $39 million.
Too busy for some
Carter Bar Securities analyst Peter Drew said the growth in geochemistry work reflected the new capacity added through a 15 per cent internal business expansion and 5 per cent from the MinAnalytical acquisition.
Mr Naran said inflation continued to be a headwind and ALS was pushing ahead with price increases of between 6 per cent and 10 per cent over the next two years. “We’re seeing very good support from our clients,” he said.
He said ALS was stocking up on at least a year’s worth of inventory for materials used in testing amid the supply chain disruptions. “It doesn’t deteriorate,” he said.
While investors mostly waved through resolutions, the re-election of director Siddhartha Kadia faced a hefty 33.2 per cent protest on votes delivered by proxy.
Proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services recommended against his re-election, citing workload as Dr Kadia has also become the chief executive of Nasdaq-listed life sciences company Berkeley Lights and has non-executive director roles with three other companies.
Fellow proxy adviser CGI Glass Lewis raised concerns about his workload but still recommended in favour of his re-election, citing his “considerable importance … given his background, broad international experience and expertise in the life sciences sector”.
Australian Shareholders’ Association representative Kelly Buchanan told the meeting “we think he’s awfully, awfully busy”.
ALS chairman Bruce Phillips said Dr Kardia had undertaken to reduce his roles but had attended “every [ALS] committee meeting”.
“He’s a very busy man, and he’s a highly intelligent man and manages his time well,” Mr Phillips said.
[ad_2]
Source link
