South African construction firm Group Five profits up 64%

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South African construction firm Group Five reported a 64 percent rise in profits on Monday, helped by a strong showing at its toll roads business in Hungary and Poland.

Diluted headline earnings per share (EPS) rose to 335 cents in the year to end-June from 204 cents in the previous year.

Headline EPS is South Africa’s main profit measure that strips out certain one-off and non-trading items.

The South African construction industry is struggling to pull itself out of a six-year slump as both the government and the private sector hold back on spending in an economy which is forecast to show little growth this year.

In response, South African construction firm Group Five  – which still derives the bulk of its sales in southern Africa – has set its sights on cross-border projects including those in high-growth countries elsewhere in Africa.

“Alongside our South African focus, we have a clear geographic strategy of expanding into high-growth countries in the rest of Africa and Europe,” Chief Executive Eric Vemer said in a statement.

South African construction firm Group Five share price, which has dropped by about 70 percent from its high reached at the peak of the construction boom in 2009, was up 4.6 percent at 25 rand by 0718 GMT. (Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing Tiisetsi Motsoeneng, Greg Mahlich)