‘Must remain vigilant’: Contractor Perenti fatality free but slides on key safety metric

Investors have welcomed a bolstered balance sheet from Perenti, but the listed contractor has had to assure it will “remain vigilant” after failing to reduce injury frequency rates during the year.

Shares in the underground mining focused contractor climbed as much as 9.6 per cent on Monday after delivering a record full year profit of $138 million that was 29 per cent higher on the prior year.

Record revenue of $3.49 billion trumped last year’s performance, and the contractor expects inflows could touch $3.65b looking ahead to next year.

Cashflows of $195m — which didn’t include $92m made from selling equipment and closing out a project in Botswana — were also higher than the $150m analysts had expected to see.

But it’s safety that has been called out as a priority for Perenti, after investors last year took issue with the contractor’s five reported workplace fatalities since May 2022.

For the first time since 2019, Perenti has recorded a year with no employee fatalities.

However, the group’s Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (TRIFR) — a health and safety metric used across the Australian mining industry — increased from 5.3 in the 2024 financial year to 6.3 in 2025. It was also above Perenti’s target of 4.8.

The serious potential injury frequency rate also increased from 2.6 to 3.3.

In addition to new pay rules implemented by chair Diane Smith-Gander, safety makes up 20 per cent of the short-term incentive payments for key management personnel, with a 15 per cent measured on fatality prevention and 5 per cent to injury performance.

Higher injury rates come despite the contractor cranking up the amount of critical risk controls completed over the period, with ‘CheckIns’ up from 35,554 to 42,461, ‘SystemChecks’ up from 448 to 659, and ‘Critical Control Field Verifications’ up from 10,351 to 13,832.

Perenti was hit with a minor fine during the period from the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator in Queensland for an overloaded vehicle and trailer.

Chief executive Mark Norwell said there was positive momentum in the application of its safety processes.

“But it should be recognised that this is a continuous improvement process and we must remain vigilant,” he told the market on Monday.

“Our first priority remains the safety of our people and we will continue to improve our systems to ensure every team member returns home safely at the end of each shift.”

The Australian Shareholders’ Association suggested to the company’s 2024 annual general meeting that senior executives should lose their entire bonuses in the event of workplace fatalities.

Ms Smith-Gander at the time countered that Perenti was reluctant to go that far for fear of threatening the recruitment and retention of management talent.

Shares in Perenti closed 5.74 per cent higher to $2.21.