WHILE construction and marine services provider AusGroup is often associated with the woes of its clients in the oil and gas sector, the group has been working hard of late to shake off this perception.
Over the past year, it addressed several debt issues by negotiating for loan extensions and raising S$46.4 million through a rights issue; it re-balanced its portfolio to achieve a roughly even split between its clients in the resources and liquefied natural gas (LNG) sectors.
In particular, it has secured a number of construction contracts in Australia's lithium sector, which is seeing a surge in demand from the lithium-ion battery industry. Chief executive officer Shane Kimpton sees another five...