Mark Ackroyd

Brisbane, Mining Equipment

Mark Ackroyd

Brisbane, Mining Equipment

$275 million (down $25 million). Last year: No.37

A spectacular new entrant to the list last year, Mark Ackroyd will be happy to put the past year behind him.

The 40-year-old started his company, National Plant and Equipment, with one bulldozer leased to a goldmine, and in 16 years built it into one of Australia's leading mining equipment suppliers.

He sold a 49.9 per cent stake to Japan's Mitsui with great timing in July 2012, a deal that made him one of the five richest young entrepreneurs in the country.

But as mining companies hit the brakes on production, demand for huge heavy machinery slowed with it.

"The last six months has been pretty dismal. The resources sector across Australia is feeling it," Mr Ackroyd said.

But there were still plenty of tenders being issued and he was hopeful the decline in the value of the Australian dollar would help stimulate the market.

"I can see it getting better towards early 2014, but I'm no economist," he said.

Coming from a family background in the construction industry, Mr Ackroyd has been around heavy machinery all his life.

Starting in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, NPE has added depots in Emerald in Queensland and Karratha in Western Australia as well as an office in Perth.

At the corporate headquarters in Brisbane, the giant tyre from a 240-tonne dump truck forms the doorway from the reception.

Mr Ackroyd and his wife Julie own industrial property and a luxury mansion and land on the Gold Coast and have other investments in the mining sector, haulage and aviation.