Ventia is facing a turbulent start to the week after announcing a major restructure that wiped billions from its market value and reportedly left some employees arriving at work only to be told their jobs had ended.
The infrastructure services provider revealed the changes on Monday morning, triggering a wave of share selling and making the company—which manages the day-to-day operations of Australian Defence Force bases—the worst performer on the ASX 200 that day.
Two hours before trading began, Ventia said it would “reduce its number of operating sectors” and “streamline its corporate functions”. The restructure is expected to cost $30 million, while delivering annualised savings of $60 million by December 2027.
The new operating model will take effect on December 1, consolidating the business into three divisions: Defence and National Resilience; Energy and Digital Infrastructure; and Water, Transport and Social Infrastructure.
Telecommunications, traditionally Ventia’s most profitable business stream, will be absorbed into the Energy and Digital Infrastructure division.
The company said the changes followed a 10-week review by newly appointed chief executive Mark Ralston, who replaced Dean Banks on September 1.
Ventia also issued a revenue warning, saying second-half revenue was declining and expected to come in below the same period last year.
It blamed the weaker outlook on delays to anticipated work, key projects that have yet to be awarded, and “challenging” conditions across the telecommunications and energy sectors.
When questioned, CEO Mark Ralston told investors that “circa one per cent” of Ventia’s 35,000-strong workforce could be affected
The restructure follows a 10-week review led by newly appointed CEO Mark Ralston
CFO Mark Fleming described 2026 as the company’s “reset year”, saying the following year would be “growing off a new base”
Despite the revenue downgrade, Ventia retained its forecast for underlying profit growth of between 7 and 10 per cent, excluding the one-off cost of the restructure.
During a subsequent investor call, chief financial officer Mark Fleming labelled 2026 the company’s “reset year” and said the following year would involve “growing off a new base”.
Pressed on the scale of the job losses, Mr Ralston said “circa one per cent” of Ventia’s 35,000 employees—equivalent to about 350 positions—could be cut.
Investors reacted sharply. Ventia shares fell to an 18-month low before ending the day 16.2 per cent lower.
On the same day, employees arriving at Ventia’s head office in North Sydney were reportedly confronted with unexpected redundancies.
Sources told the Daily Mail that at least 10 workers were informed after the announcement that their employment had ended.
“People were just walking into work on Monday and being told, ‘That’s it, you’re done,’” one source said.
“The EAP line must be ringing off the hook. I don’t know how many missed calls they would have right now.”
An Employee Assistance Program, or EAP, is a confidential support and counselling service funded by employers to help staff deal with personal or workplace difficulties.
Among the most senior departures is Derek Osborn, Ventia’s Group Executive of Information and Transformation, who is leaving after six years with the company, according to two sources who spoke to the Daily Mail on condition of anonymity.
Sources say Sarah Palmer, who joined Ventia as group executive of telecommunications less than a year ago, is among those recently made redundant
Derek Osborn, Ventia’s Group Executive of Information and Transformation, is reportedly leaving after six years with the company
Sarah Palmer, who joined Ventia as group executive of telecommunications less than a year ago, is also leaving, according to insiders.
Alex Cockerton, Group CFO of Ventia’s telecommunications division, is understood to have been on extended stress leave. His current employment status is not known.
The planned restructure and latest job cuts follow several rounds of redundancies across the company during the past year.
The Mail has been told that between 120 and 150 telecommunications employees were dismissed around the start of the year, followed by about 50 job losses across defence and social infrastructure. Further reductions were subsequently made in operations, administration and pre-contract teams, insiders said.
One source questioned how much more restructuring remained, arguing that “massive amounts of personnel had already been removed from the business”.
Some employees arriving at Ventia’s North Sydney head office on Monday were reportedly met with unexpected redundancies. (A file image of Ventia staff is shown. The Mail does not suggest that the people pictured have been laid off)
The latest restructure and job cuts follow several rounds of redundancies over the past year. (Pictured: Victoria Cross Tower in North Sydney, where Ventia occupies levels 26 and 27)
Another source claimed the company “was letting go of the wrong people” and warned it “will end up in a hole”.
The announcement also prompted questions about its timing, including when Ventia first became aware that its second-half revenue outlook had weakened after describing conditions as positive in August.
One source alleged that Ventia had waited for a favourable moment to disclose the news, noting that the announcement came two months before the company’s financial year ended and coincided with the US midterm elections, which provided additional background noise.
“You don’t find these holes in 10 weeks,” the source said.
“They just left it until the last minute to dump a whole pile of bad news.”
A second source said Ventia had failed to secure a $1.2 billion social housing contract during the first half of 2026, a setback that was not disclosed in investor presentations in May.
“We were told to keep it hush-hush because we had investor presentations coming up,” the source said.
“That was a big, massive contract that we spent so much money on trying to win, and we were so sure we were going to get it.”
Ventia shares recovered some of their losses in the days after the announcement, rising six per cent by the close of trading on Thursday. However, they were still 11 per cent below their pre-announcement level on Friday morning.
The Daily Mail sent Ventia a series of detailed questions about the restructure, its reporting and revenue outlook, but the company did not respond.
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