It's an interesting thought, I'm still cautiously optimistic....

It's an interesting thought, I'm still cautiously optimistic. For full disclosure I work for a competitor and not in Australia. I come across former colleagues who work for Cardno so I have a pretty good feel for the firm. What is interesting is the capability and capacity when compared to the likes of GHD, AECOM, Arcadis, SMEC, JACOBS etc. Cardno really is a small projects company in Australia and really doesn't have much to offer in the way of major projects, excluding some bits around the edges in Water and Transport. In NSW I think they do well out of property development, but that will come to the end. They have an ever decreasing opportunity to make some transitions into a major projects company. I am speculating that's why the new CEO has been brought on board, no doubt he will be trying to get them to compete on a larger level. In the US they are mostly and Environmental Services business.

The end December half year numbers will be fascinating, they have had two years to get their shite together and if they are behind their predictions then I think it could be downhill for a while. Someone might come in for a fire sale.

On the other hand if they hit the targets, then hats off to Crescent.

For me - what are they doing to compete on major projects - outside of the Steve Bradbury tactic.
What are they doing with BIM? - the industry is moving into more advanced design platforms, as far as I can tell Cardno is at least 10 years behind.
What are they doing in the US so they can go from Eviro business to an Engineering one?
What are they doing in Asia - Big market and to date it's been oddly quiet in any strategic papers they have released.
Last but not least, do they even have a Global Design Centre in India or the Philippines? This was a Wankmuller promise, surely in 2018 you have to be thinking bigger than Syd, Melb or Brisbane.

I hope that's not too pessimistic.