Capital aims for return to peak fleet utilisation
- 14 August 2025
Capital executive chair Jamie Boyton says this year’s ramp up of work at new contract sites and an encouraging market backdrop have the contractor poised to achieve a record revenue run-rate in 2026 and potentially return to peak drill-rig fleet utilisation levels.
The London-listed company has a large, mixed fleet of exploration and mine production drills, numbering 133 rigs at the end of June this year, and growing mining and laboratory services arms.
It is transferring equipment from Egypt to Pakistan to ramp up activity at the Barrick-operated Reko Diq copper-gold mega-mine, where it has tailings dam construction, infrastructure civils and borehole drilling contracts.
Capital booked 2025 first-half revenue of US$159.2 million, down 6% year-on-year, and 25% lower H1 EBITDA of $32.1 million, for an EBITDA margin around 20%. It has lifted its full-year revenue guidance to $320-340 million and CFO Rick Robson said on a results call this week he was “comfortable” Capital could return to a circa-25% EBITDA margin in 2026 on the back of its building drilling and mining workload and growth of its MSALABS business.
“I think what is particularly exciting about the outlook is, if you look at our first half revenue numbers and you look at our guidance, it’s telling us that as we move out of 2025, which has been somewhat of a rebuilding and restructuring year for Capital, we’re going to be heading into next year and the highest revenue run-rate in the company’s history with an extremely supportive market backdrop,” Boyton said on the call.
Capital has a targeted average drill fleet utilisation rate of about 75% and surged back up to 74% in the first half of 2025.
“At current [global mining exploration and capital expenditure] levels we’re still roughly 50% below previous cycle peaks … and that’s obviously against a backdrop of gold at an historic peak,” Boyton said.
“So the backdrop under which we’re operating is extremely positive.
“In the time that Capital has been a public company and had a [larger] scale of operations we’ve had peak utilisation of 83% and that is a number that could conceivably be achieved – quite readily achieved – with this demand backdrop.”
Capital says tendering activity across the industry “remains robust … with several opportunities progressing”.
The company’s share price is up nearly 15% in the past six months, capitalising the company at about £178 million, or circa-US$241 million.
Needless to say when you operate across multiple jurisdictions with multiple rig types, from aircore to blast-hole to grade control etc, it depends on the demand profile coming through how well you can utilise those assets. Furthermore you’re always rebuilding, refurbishing, recommissioning and mobilising assets, so that will always … you can never have 100%.
Reko Diq … had drilling contract. Now added mining and borehole drilling. …
Jamie: There’s two bodies of work on the mining side that are taking place … civils and tailings. Tailings side could grow … This is an ultra long-life, ultra low-cost asset so subject to Capital performing … there’s a very decent probability that there will be an extension on the tailings side.
