Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s private company has revealed new details on the growth of its multiple subsidiaries including RM Williams, Squadron Energy, Akubra and Harvest Road Group.
Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s private company has revealed new details on the growth of its multiple subsidiaries including RM Williams, Squadron Energy, Akubra and Harvest Road Group.
Tattarang has experienced enormous growth in recent years, with total staff across group companies reaching 4,850.
Chief executive John Hartman said the group was not slowing down.
“We are investing and growing every year,” Mr Hartman told Business News in an exclusive interview.
“We have invested more in the past two years than ever before in the history of Tattarang.”
Tattarang is anchored by its shareholding in iron ore miner Fortescue, which has made the Forrests two of Australia’s wealthiest people.
They have invested a lot of their wealth buying and building businesses such as Harvest Road Group, which has grown to have more than 1,300 people.
The agribusiness generated revenue of $420 million last financial year from a mix of export and local sales, with Harvey Beef-branded products increasing their share of Western Australia's retail market to 7.7 per cent.
Its operation spans 15 sites, from pastoral stations in the Kimberley and Pilbara, to the state’s largest beef processing facility at Harvey.
At New Norcia, the group has spent $100 million developing the state’s largest feedlot, which has up to 20,000 cattle at any point in time.
This integrated operation has enabled the group to increase the number of cattle processed by 47 per cent over the past two years to 205,219 last year.
Also experiencing rapid growth is footwear and clothing company RM Williams.
Annual sales have grown by 80 per cent since the business was purchased in 2020 and totalled $273 million in FY24.
John Hartman with Harvest Road executives at the Koojan Downs cattle feedlot.
RM Williams has taken on 350 extra staff over that time and employs more than 1,200 people in its manufacturing operations in South Australia and retail stores around the country.
Similarly, the Akubra business is flying along after one year of ownership, with sales up 21 per cent.
Like at RM Williams, the group has been investing in local manufacturing at Akubra’s workshop in Kempsey.
Tattarang’s biggest move was the $4.2 billion purchase of east coast wind farm developer CWP Renewables, which is now part of its Squadron Energy business.
“That was a big shift for Tattarang from being a very WA-centric business,” Mr Hartman said.
Squadron has total assets of $6.6 billion, with 1 gigawatt of wind farms in operation and 900 megawatts under construction.
Its revenue more than doubled to $207 million last financial year as new wind farms came online.
Tattarang’s rapid growth has included some challenges, with the group battling to make headway on high-profile property developments such as Exmouth Lighthouse and the Indiana site at Cottesloe.
The group also made an ill-timed foray into nickel, with its mining arm Wyloo Metals spending more than $1 billion buying WA nickel miner Mincor Resources and Canadian project developer Noront Resources.
Mincor’s operations were put on care and maintenance in May last year, around the same time most other Australian nickel miners did the same thing.
Mr Hartman admits Wyloo got its timing wrong but insists the long-term prospects are good.
“Our overall thesis of growing demand for nickel hasn’t changed,” he said.
In anticipation of better times, Wyloo is continuing to explore its tenements and has achieved some success.
Mr Hartman describes the diversity across Tattarang’s portfolio as one of the fun parts of his job.
“Every day there is something exciting happening and something challenging happening at the same time," he said.
“It balances you out, never to get ahead of yourself.”
For an in-depth report on Tattarang, including details on its profitable exits and appointments to its subsidiary boards, see the next edition of the Business News magazine, out on Monday.
