Volution Group PLC to Acquire the AC Industries Conference Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Robert Chantry - Joh Berenberg Gossler & Co KG - Analyst : Yeah, two questions. I'll do one at a time. So firstly, this is clearly quite a move away from, I guess, the historic core markets. Is it kind of fair to assume it's a broader signaling of the kind of broadening of the envelope for the acquisitions that Volution sees as relevant, i.e., could we expect to see more build and deals to come in, I guess, the specialist industrial area on a more global basis?

Question: Robert Chantry - Joh Berenberg Gossler & Co KG - Analyst : And then the second question, I guess, further to the one earlier around how you perceive the cyclical exposure of the business? Clearly, it's mining, it's a different cycle, it has ups and downs. I guess, can you just put into context how that's performed over the past 5, 10 years through different periods and how you kind of see that fitting into the broader group in terms of managing that cyclical exposure?

Question: Clyde Lewis - Peel Hunt LLP - Analyst : I think I've got three questions, if I may. One, I suppose, is around investment in the business, whether you need to do anything, what it sounds this is asset-light, as I think you just mentioned, Ronnie, but interested to know whether you think you do need to put any new CapEx or investment into the business? Second one was, I suppose, around technology and what ACI has versus what the rest of the group has. What sort of technological sharing do you think there will be going forward, if any? And the third one was around competitors. And I suppose, particularly in Australia, who are they up against or who are you up against in that market, energy?

Question: Christen Hjorth - Deutsche Bank AG - Analyst : Brilliant. Just a couple of, hopefully, reasonably quick ones from me. First of all, I mean, this may be tying in a few of the other questions, but clearly, that EBITDA margin is highly impressive, ahead of the group's highly impressive EBITDA margin already. So what -- when you did your DD, I suppose, what did you conclude as the key drivers of that and how sustainable it will be going forward? Because obviously, it's not the capital intensity, and you've touched on a few of these, but just be interested to get in more detail. And second of all, obviously, the M&A focus with Fantech and ACI has been very much outside of Europe over recent deals. Should we expect this to remain the case going forward or is there nothing really to read into that? LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies.

Question: Tania Maciver - RBC Capital Markets Inc - Analyst : Great. Congrats on the acquisition. Just a couple of small questions. Out of the 150 mines, how many customers is that? Are there many customers with multiple mines? And is there an average remaining life of the 70% of mines that are operating? And then just one more question, I'll add. Just in terms of the product itself, are there any unique materials that are difficult to source or that could sort of restrict growth if there was a shortage of supply? And are there controls associated with the product for quality control deep in the mines for...