Coretex full-year lift drove 52% revenue growth as net debt jumped to $62.5m

This means the period-on-period comparison is not like-for-like, and management's own normalised revenue figure of $165.3m (above the $159–164m guidance band) is the cleaner reference point.

EBITDA more than doubled to $45.2m from $21.0m. Losses narrowed at every line: PBT loss improved 51.0% to -$5.1m, and NPAT loss improved 68.8% to -$3.0m. Operating cash flow rose to $24.1m from $14.3m, but free cash flow remained negative at -$29.9m (FY22: -$45.1m). Net debt stepped up sharply from $18.2m to $62.5m, taking net debt/EBITDA from 0.87x to 1.38x, while the cash balance fell to $8.1m from $13.9m.

Both the current and comparative periods are flagged with acquisition overlays, and reported revenue includes a $9.6m one-off accounting adjustment tied to the Coretex merger. The normalised revenue print of $165.3m sits only modestly above the guidance midpoint, so the 52.2% headline overstates the underlying growth rate available to a forward-looking investor.

Leverage has materially weakened. Gross borrowings rose from $32.1m to $70.6m and net debt nearly tripled to $62.5m, while cash drained to $8.1m. With EBITDA loss-of-acquisition costs still working through, net debt/EBITDA at 1.38x is manageable in isolation but the trajectory matters because FCF is still negative; the balance sheet absorbed the gap rather than internal cash generation.

Working capital absorbed cash. Receivable days rose from 23.5 to 47.0, roughly a doubling, which directly explains why cash conversion fell even as EBITDA expanded. This matters because debtor stretch is the type of pressure that compounds if customer mix shifts toward larger, slower-paying fleet contracts post-Coretex.

The second-half shape data is consistent with that — H1 FY23 accounted for 48.8% of full-year revenue and 46.0% of full-year EBITDA, so the business exited the year running at a slightly higher run-rate than it entered.

No forward revenue or EBITDA target accompanies this release in the supplied material, and no FY24 guidance is captured here. What the release does support is that operational integration is tracking; what it does not support is a view on when FCF turns positive or when leverage starts retracing.

OCF/EBITDA fell from 68.1% to 53.3%, and the gap is explained by working capital — receivable days doubled and operating working capital absorbed cash that EBITDA growth would otherwise have delivered. FCF of -$29.9m on capex of $27.5m (15.7% of revenue) means the business is still investing more than it generates, and the capex intensity has only moderated from 24.7%, not normalised.

The earnings improvement is genuine at the EBITDA line but flattered at NPAT. The current-period effective tax rate of 41.2% versus 7.7% prior pulled NPAT growth (+68.8%) below PBT growth (+51.0%) on a smaller absolute base, so the headline NPAT narrative is sensitive to tax mix. The presence of $9.6m of one-off acquisition accounting revenue inside the reported top line also means the EBITDA-margin read is artificially supported in FY23 — normalised metrics are the more durable view.

This briefing cannot assess organic revenue growth or FY24 guidance because neither is disclosed in the supplied material.