A director of the coal handling and preparation plant building specialist since 1988, Hay served as managing director of Sedgman for 10 years, overseeing the private firm’s transition to a publicly listed company.

“His role as a non-executive director during the past 18 months particularly aided the smooth transition to new executive leadership under his successor, Mark Read,” Sedgman chairman Russell Kempnich said.

“On behalf of the board and all shareholders, I would like to thank Peter for his valuable contribution and wish him every success in the future.”

Before joining Sedgman, Hay held management roles with BHP Billiton, Macarthur Coal, Utah Development Company and Pan Australian Mining.

Read, who also serves as Sedgman’s chief executive, had a positive outlook for 2010 in the annual report released on Friday.

He said the company had an order book worth $A530 million in the current financial year and a three-year pipeline of project opportunities potentially worth $4.8 billion in revenue.

“Of that pipeline of work, Sedgman expects to convert several opportunities within the next 12 months, having already been involved in the early planning stages in over 75 per cent of the related projects,” Read said.

Sedgman posted a $7.1 million net profit for the 2008-09 financial year, down 70% on the back of a $20 million goodwill write-down for its metal engineering arm, Intermet.

The company has recently raised $31 million through institutional investors and a $5 million share purchase plan, to help fund future growth.