BMR Piping & Civil
BMR Piping & Civil is a West-Australian-owned business that provides piping services to the mining sector, including installations and repairs.
Need
When BMR Piping & Civil had two major contracts on resource projects that overlapped, it needed finance to support its cash flow.
Solution
We provided low-cash contract security bonds to replace retentions held as part of the first contract, freeing up cash flow to support the delivery of the second project.
BMR Piping & Civil is a West Australian-owned business specialising in piping services for the mining sector. When two major contracts overlapped, its bank was unable to provide the necessary financial support. That’s where we stepped in, delivering bonds to help free up BMR Piping & Civil’s cash flow.
BMR Piping & Civil delivers high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe installations in Western Australia’s mining sector, including dewatering solutions, tailings storage facility installations and piping maintenance and repairs.
In June 2024, BMR Piping & Civil had two major projects due to overlap with two clients. The first project was with Liontown Resources to supply, install and commission 48 kms of HDPE pipework and install a booster station and other related infrastructure for its Kathleen Valley Lithium Operation. The second was to upgrade and extend a tailings pipeline at a major mine site in the Pilbara region.
The support from Export Finance Australia was make or break. It not only helped free up cash for the business but also helped us remove a high-interest financing product that we were using month to month.
Steven Bowron
Chief Executive Officer, BMR Piping & Civil
As with many large contracts in the mining sector, each of the projects required security.
“For pretty much every project we work on, we have a bank guarantee or a retention element, which is to fulfil our contractual obligations, such as fixing defects after project completion,” Steven Bowron, Chief Executive Officer at BMR Piping & Civil, explained.
“The first of these two contracts was based on retention. So, from every invoice we submitted, they would hold 10% of our invoice for that retention.”
Finance to free up cash flow for major projects
When BMR Piping & Civil reached out to its bank for support, Steven said it was a slow process as the business had only been trading for a couple of years. “At that stage, we had only just ticked over two years of trading, and it was a slow process to get through. There were a lot of boxes to tick because we had scaled so quickly.”
As an interim solution, Steven said the business had accessed a high-interest trade finance solution to support cash flow month to month.
“As a small business, coming into a period of two large project overlaps, cash flow was super tight. We were using trade finance to help with our monthly cash flow during that retention phase,” Steven said.
“We needed support with the cash flow, and we got to a stage where our bank identified that it probably couldn’t support us as quickly as we needed, which is when we were recommended to engage Export Finance Australia.”
At Export Finance Australia, we have worked with a wide range of businesses in the mining sector, so we understood what solution BMR Piping & Civil needed to free up cash flow. We provided Warranty and Performance Bonds to support the completion of the first project, which enabled its client to release the withheld funds for retention and removed the need for trade finance. We also provided a bond to support the contract requirements for the second project.
“Once the bonds came in, it freed up a lot of cash flow, which allowed us to execute the second project during that month to a month and a half overlap of the projects,” Steven said.
A solution to support further growth
Reflecting on his experience working with the team at Export Finance Australia, Steven highlighted that it was quick and easy, which was exactly what the business needed at that stage.
“The biggest thing for us was how easy it was to work with Export Finance Australia. You could call them up to ask a question, and they would know the answer almost immediately,” he said. “They also understood what we needed. We provided a lot of technical details to the team, and they understood it to a depth that I didn't expect and hadn’t experienced with other lenders.”
Looking forward, BMR Piping & Civil is gearing up for growth, and Steven highlighted that cash flow will be key during the next growth stage of the business.
“If our clients had to hold retention on larger contracts, scaling to that next size wouldn't be possible. Freeing up cash flow with bank guarantees will probably be the biggest thing for us, and Export Finance Australia supports us quite well in that space.”
