21 July 2023
The Insider: Meet the Fund Manager sessions are a great way to hear directly from leading fund managers. They share their approach to investing, favourite companies and their market view for the year ahead.
The World Health Organisation declared the end of COVID-19 as a global health emergency on 5th May 2023. While scores of businesses were lost to the pandemic, the stronger ones have survived and have been preparing for a comeback – businesses such as Site Group International Ltd (ASX: SIT)
Site Group offers construction training services to global governments and conglomerates including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), GE and Oceana Gold. The company is particularly reputed for the upskilling solutions it provides to the workforces in emerging nations.
Speaking on Reach Markets’ The Insider: Meet the Fund Manager in July 2023, Anthony Murphy, CEO of award-winning ‘fund of funds’ Lucerne Investment Partners selected Site Group as one of his favourite stocks. Watch the full The Insider: Meet the Fund Manager session.
“If ExxonMobil discovers oil off the coast of the Philippines…it is a requirement that Exxon Mobil then employ a certain portion of the workforce on that set oil rig in order to meet local standards,” said Mr Murphy to provide an example of Site’s working business model. He explained how the population of an emerging economy such as the Philippines often ‘does not have the skills necessary’ to work on larger scale industrial structures.
“This is where Site comes into play. Site, through their training solutions, will upskill the local population so they can go and work on Exxon Mobil’s oil rig.”
At the time of speaking, Site Group was the only listed company in the wholesale Lucerne Select Alpha Fund (LSAF), which harnesses the best investment ideas generated from Lucerne’s preferred fund managers to target 20%+ per annum net returns over 5-year periods.
“From a mandate perspective we tend to bias private companies, but we will also look at listed companies that we believe are significantly mispriced and Site is a prime example of that,” Mr Murphy said. “[Site Group] has significant inroads into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where it’s one of only three global training businesses into the Kingdom.”
The KSA government’s ‘Vision 2030’ initiative aims to build a thriving and diversified economy, decrease unemployment rates and increase the participation of women in the workforce. The country recorded an estimated real GDP growth of 8.7% and a budget surplus of US$27.68 billion in 2022.
Vernon Wills, International Operations Director of Site Group, joined Reach Markets’ The Insider: Meet the CEO session in April 2023 where he provided an update on the business, highlighting the company’s recovery from COVID and its plans for the future. Watch the full The Insider: Meet the CEO session.
Mr Wills recounted how the company’s revenue collapsed from almost $31 million in FY19 to around $7 million in FY22, with the share price dropping by over 95% since February 2020 to a market cap of less than $4 million in March 2023.
He also touched on Site’s partnerships with the likes of ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco, GE and OceanaGold and highlighted the company’s 38.4% interest in a 30 hectare leasehold in Clark, the Philippines which has drawn the interest of some institutional investors. Mr Murphy cited the leasehold as the major drawcard that attracted Lucerne to Site Group.
“What we are seeing at the moment is significant capital being invested into Clarke not only from an infrastructure perspective but also [in terms of] hotels and schools. Clarke is positioned to become the second major airport in the Philippines behind obviously Manila,” he said, adding that the Philippines government had been supporting the city’s infrastructure growth.
“So, for us it’s a land play that we think is grossly undervalued by the market at the moment and that’s why we took a significant position in the company via its recent rights issue.”
The company was recently recapitalised by existing and new investors including Lucerne Investment Partners and the likes of EGP Capital, and Altor Capital’s Alpha Fund and has previously attracted investments from Macquarie CEO Tony Berg (Armada Trading Pty Ltd).
Click here to view more videos from Anthony Murphy’s The Insider: Meet the Fund Manager session. or click here to view the full The Insider: Meet the CEOs session with Site Group’s International Operations Director Vernon Wills.
Reach Corporate provides Corporate Advisory Services to Site Group International Limited and may receive fees for its services.
Reach does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any information provided, and the views expressed are not reflective of Reach Markets’ position. Any advice contained within this presentation is general advice and does not consider your personal circumstances, you should consider whether it is appropriate for you.
The information we are giving you is for educational purposes only. “Investing is about understanding your risk” and every time you invest in the share market there is a risk of loss.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
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Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
The CEOs of all the companies chosen as Fund Manager favourite stocks are invited to present at our Meet the CEO series. Reach does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any information provided, and the views expressed are not reflective of Reach Markets position.
Any advice contained within this presentation is general advice and does not consider your personal circumstance, you should consider whether it’s appropriate for you.
The information we are giving you is for educational purposes only. “Investing is about understanding your risk” and every time you invest in the share market there is a risk of loss.