Since we listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1999, Lucas has grown from $20 million in annual revenue to a forecast $450 million in 2008.

The growth has followed our 1999 blueprint: at each stage, we've added the management depth, systems and processes to take us to the next.

As we've grown, our project involvement has broadened. Six years ago we were a specialist subcontractor. Today, companies that used to be our competitors are now our subcontractors.

We've stuck to our role as an infrastructure specialist, solving problems with innovative technology developed through solid engineering and industry understanding.

In the early 1990s we saw the value of horizontal directional drilling - HDD. We've been the Australian leader ever since, and today are an established world leader in this advanced infrastructure technology.

Later in the 1990s, we saw the coming importance of coal seam methane and leveraged our HDD expertise to take a leadership role in this expanding field.

More recently, we've acquired experienced companies, in particular McDermott Drilling and Capricorn Weston Drilling Group, to extend our services.

Our range of skills and our depth of involvement has grown steadily on a solid foundation of experience and knowledge. And always based on partnerships with our clients.

A few principles we work by

• We pay attention: to your objectives, to the project's challenges, to the details.
  
• We can be trusted. Lucas' approach to business is based on competence and integrity - and, by definition, on the quality of our people.
  
• We know our stuff. We have people employed at all levels with the right set of values and more than a high level of competence.
  
• We don't waste time. Endless paperwork and over-complex systems bog down many projects and impose a huge overhead.
  
• Our systems are streamlined, efficient and constantly evolving to make sure our clients have project information at their fingertips.
  
• We're on your side. They're great to watch on the football field, but adversarial relationships are not good business. They force everyone to focus on contractual fine print instead of a project's objectives. Any profit or cost chiselled out of the other party is outweighed by the time taken.
  
• We work with our clients and stay focused on  results.
  
• We always deliver. Breakdowns, weather, late deliveries, faulty components, geological surprises. Every project has its challenges. We don't turn them into excuses. We anticipate and overcome them.