"IMO, all construction companies are terrible investments, end...

"IMO, all construction companies are terrible investments, end of story. "

With the financial pedigrees of construction companies being generally characterised by:

- lumpy revenues,
- high degrees of capital- and lease-intensity,
- lack of pricing power,
- limited control over input costs,
- limited visibility into future earnings,
- poor capital allocation discipline...

....I don't think you are wrong: inevitably, then do end up being poor long-term investments, so the only way to invest in them is by timing their business cycle.

Which is often easier said than done.

Out of the bad sector bunch, SRG is one of the better ones and one is unlikely to stand on any landmines with it, the sorts of landmines from which maybe a few fingers or toes might get taken, but not kind which causes a loss of all limbs.

However, I think most of the cyclical ALPHA has now been delivered, as it seems to me that many of the obvious tailwinds of the past several years are abating, at the same time that the stock has risen meaningfully (not due to a re-rating of the valuation multiple;that has remained relatively constant, at around 10x P/,which tells me that it is unlikely to ever get much higher than that).

This result will be more important than most because it will reflect the first half-year with the ALS acquired business making its full-period debut.

Management have guided to 20% EBITDA growth in FY2024, but I think the bulk of that will be front-loaded into the current half (so perhaps a 25% :15% EBITDA growth split between DH2023 and JH2024, orpossibly even 30%:10%). I suspect the market would warm to that.

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