Image source: Wasan Tita

Highlights

  • ALS offers comprehensive testing solutions to a wide range of industries globally
  • In FY23, the company registered 19.5% YoY growth in revenue, underpinned by the performance of its metallurgy and geochemistry business
  • Northcape Capital Pty. Ltd. has the highest stake in ALQ, with a shareholding of 2.02%

ALS Limited (ASX: ALQ) is an Australian company engaged in providing laboratory testing, certification, inspection, and verification solutions for the past four decades. The company caters to a wide range of industries across the globe.

In the financial year 2023, the company reported 19.5% YoY organic growth in revenue to AUD 2,421 million and 21.8% YoY organic growth in underlying EBIT to AUD 490.7 million. The underlying NPAT increased by 23.4% YoY to AUD 320.6 million during the reported period.

The period saw strong performance in its metallurgy and geochemistry business segment and acquisition in the Life Sciences division. These factors underpinned the growth in yearly revenue.

The company completed ten acquisitions in FY23, contributing AUD 115 million in revenue on a full-year run-rate basis.

Recent business update

Through an ASX filing dated 8 August 2023, the company informed that the Vanguard Group, Inc. and its controlled entities had become substantial shareholders in ALQ as of 9 August 2023 with a voting power of 5.004% and securities of 24,229,971.

Top 10 shareholders of ALQ

The top 10 shareholders of ALQ have nearly 31.09% shareholding in the company. Northcape Capital Pty. Ltd. has the highest stake in the company, with a shareholding of 2.02%.

Outlook

The company is positive about the medium to long-term outlook of commodities and life science business segments. The environmental business within life science is performing well across all geographies and managing inflationary headwinds. Also, the pharmaceutical business continued its growth momentum, while the food and pharmaceutical business is committed to developing its platform to take advantage of the growth and organic opportunities.

Share performance of ALQ

ALQ shares closed 1.24% down at AUD 11.17 apiece on 16 October 2023. Including this, ALQ shares witnessed a rise of 0.36% in the past one year and a fall of 13.81% in the past six months.

The 52-week high of ALQ is AUD 13.48 apiece, recorded on 26 April 2023, while the 52-week low is AUD 10.52 apiece, recorded on 10 July 2023.

 

Note 1: Past performance is neither an Indicator nor a guarantee of future performance.

 

Note 2: The reference date for all price data, currency, is 16 October 2023. The reference data in this report has been partly sourced from REFINITIV.