Why Ventia (ASX: VNT) has more than doubled since its late 2021 listing – second time lucky!

Ventia Services (ASX:VNT) listed on the ASX in November 2021 at $1.5bn and is now capitalised at $4bn. Since listing it has recorded persistent revenue and profit growth. There is very little to complain about from a financial perspective, and it may still be undervalued. However, things aren’t completely perfect for it.

Overview of Ventia

This company, which traces its origins back to the 1950s, is an infrastructure maintenance services provider. It serves four segments: Defence & Social Infrastructure, Infrastructure Services – which covers utilities, such as water and electricity as well as the mining and resources sector – Telecommunications and transport.

Transfield Services was founded in 1956 by Italian-born electrical engineer Franco Belgiorno-Nettis. Over time it became one of Australia’s most successful companies. By 1986, it was so well known that Pope John Paul II toured its Western Sydney factory. In that same decade, it launched into environmental services and into naval shipbuilding. In the 1990s, the company got into oil and gas and telco services.

Ventia first listed on the ASX in 2001, only to delist in 2016. By this time, the company had adopted its present way after a 3 way merger between Leighton Contractor Services, Theiss Services and Visionstream. During its time as a private company, it bought essential infrastructure company Broadspectrum. The company returned in 2021.

Ventia has Solid financials

Ventia uses a calendar year and handed down its results for FY24 in February 2025. The company delivered a $227.9m profit, up 13%, from$6.1bn in revenue, up 7.6%. It provided FY25 guidance of 7-10% profit growth. The strongest segments were defence and social infrastructure (where revenues grew 9.4%) and telecommunications (where revenues grew 15%). Infrastructure and transport revenues were more nuanced, growing by less than 1%. Ventia paid out 75% of its profit, $0.1998 per share, and it announced a $100m share buyback.

Its results look good enough in isolation, but just wait until you hear about the growth it has had since its IPO. Revenues are up 34% since FY21, and its profit is up 55%. From an ESG perspective, it has achieved a 21% cut in emissions since 2021 and has set a goal of 100% reduction in scope 2 emissions by 2028. It has 50% female participation in its executive leadership team too.

It looks like a bright future ahead

And Ventia boasted it has a big market opportunity. It already has $19.4bn in Work in Hand and purports that it will have a Total Market Opportunity of $100.4bn by FY28. This will be driven be population growth, the energy transition, the rise in outsourcing and from automation driven from AI.

In the immediate term, we noted Ventia expects 7-10% profit growth for FY25 and analysts expect so too. They also expect 5% revenue growth, to $6.4bn. For FY26, another 5% revenue growth is expected (to $6.7bn) and a $268.4m profit, which would be 10% growth from the midpoint of the FY25 guidance. These estimates put the company at 16.4x P/E for FY25 and 15x for FY26. Its EV/EBITDA is just 8x for both years. Reasonable multiples in our book.

Not all perfect

The one blemish on its record? In December 2024, the ACCC filed a civil case against this company (and Spotless) alleging contraventions of the Australian competition law provisions. The competition regulator alleged that the companies breached cartel provisions in the Competition and Consumer Act. This led to a 30%+ share price decline in one day.

Ventia has told investors consistently that it denies the allegations and will fight them. It seems investors have all but forgotten about it since. It was only a week later that the company announced a five-year partnership with Telstra that would be anticipated to generate $400m in revenue over the next 5 years.

Conclusion

It seems there’s little to be concerned about right now. Obviously, if the allegations are proven and the company is fined, there could be a bad reaction from investors. The sign it fell when the lawsuit was filed is a bad omen for what could happen if the lawsuit is proven true.

The lawsuit aside, it seems things are fine for now. But of course, if growth slows down, then investors will start to become concerned. The company does benefit from having a lot of its revenue based from government contracts and large telcos, but the prospect of the tide turning cannot be entirely ruled out.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Ventia

• Is Ventia an Australian company?

  Yes, it is Australian owned and generates 85% of its revenues from Australia. 

• Is Ventia ethical?

  This question is up to individual investors, but we think Ventia is an ethical company, because of the progress it has made in transitioning to electric vehicles and renewable energy.  

• Is Ventia stock up from its IPO price?

  Yes, Ventia is up nearly 50% from its IPO price.