In case you missed our catch up with some of the major MSOs in the January/February issue here's our chat with AMA Group.
AMA Group
Sites: 143
Employees: 3,512
Type of work: All types, mechanical, ADAS
Established: 2006
Apprentices: 450>
States: VIC, TAS, NSW, ACT, QLD, SA, WA & NZ
CEO Mat Cooper was very tail up when we spoke with him in December. “We’re in a great place now. Getting that balance sheet reset behind us was the fundamental thing that the business had needed to do. Having a board that’s now aligned is really helpful for us, and we’re kicking goals in terms of results as well. We’ve got Capital S.M.A.R.T where it needs it to be. We’ve still got more work to do on Collision, that will take a little longer. We got there in the end.
“We fundamentally reset the balance sheet with the $125 million equity, and that puts the entirety of the debt challenge behind us. This was an organisation that ultimately got itself in too much debt prior to COVID, it suffered through COVID and it had to fight its way out of that, but fundamentally we needed to recapitalise.
“We brought everyone together for the first time in years, set the direction, communicated, allowed everyone to ask any of the questions that they had, and then celebrated as well with our AMA Awards.”
“We are now being driven by our core value ‘together we do it right’. That’s going to set us apart, it guides everything that we do, from the floor to the boardroom. It’s clearly visible throughout our entire organisation and now we’ve got to embed that into our culture.”
Mat has undertaken a punishing schedule of visiting as many AMA locations as he can in a year to make sure he talks to the team. “The mood is very positive,” he says. “A lot of those people have stuck with us through this rough period and it’s good to see everyone get past that and really know that we’ve got a future and we’re back to growing.”
On AMA’s acquisition strategy Cooper says: “We have quite a long list. When you get the word out, there’s a lot of pent-up demand for the people who are looking to retire. We’re also building some greenfields, so we’re signing a few leases and the properties like our Townsville property are coming online in about two or three months’ time.” The group is also investing in refurbishments and rebranding at many sites.
The group’s biggest challenge is always recruiting enough people. “It’s still a highly competitive environment. We’re addressing that through our apprenticeship program, but that’s going to take years to get that pipeline fundamentally right.
“We’re targeting to have 500 apprentices and when I look at why we’re not getting closer to that 500, it’s because we’re getting people through the program,” he said.
“We’re also bringing people in from all over the world. By the end of this calendar year (2024), in this half we will bring in more than 100 people. Most of these come from the Philippines and Ghana – and they’re hitting the ground running.”
Looking forward to 2025 Cooper says: “It is about growth. We want to set up three to five new sites in the next 12 months. We’re still rolling out our ADAS capability with our TechRight business. We’re also leaning into our TrackRight mechanical business.”
While Capital S.M.A.R.T has been tracking well it was the Collision division that was most heavily impacted by AMA’s liquidity challenges. “We had a loss of people and we had a loss of volume. Some of the insurers moved some of their volume away from us. We need to get both volume and the people back to actually drive the throughput that keeps the machine going, and that’s what we’re working on.
“Competitors have had an impact on our business, there’s no question about that. Some have been expanding rapidly, taking advantage of our situation or growing by setting unsustainable pricing in the market. Moving forward you’ll see us lean into growth, which we had not been able to take advantage of while we had liquidity challenges – it’s a different playing field now those circumstances have changed – but we will not be part of any race to the bottom on pricing.
“Competition is healthy, the market’s big enough for everyone. However, businesses need to charge a sensible amount to be sustainable over the longer journey and I don’t think everyone’s being sensible.”