JSE-listed chemicals group Rolfes has, as a result of restructuring initiatives undertaken since July, lifted the profit of its water division by 84.2% to R3.5-million.

Speaking to Engineering News Online on Thursday, Rolfes CEO Lizette Lynch said the company took a number of steps to restructure, including moving from its rented premises in Midrand to a group-owned site in Jet Park, and implementing internal procurement to save costs.

The water division comprises a South African business and a Botswana business, Professional Water Management, which focus on water purification products and solutions that are sold into industrial and mining sectors.

“In the South African business, we had a number of small clients that took up capacity and service team time, so we reviewed our approach and decided to focus our teams on the larger customers to get more leverage,” Lynch explained.

The division also gained leather tannery customers, which assisted with its performance. A new MD for the division, Quentin Marais, was appointed, effective September 1.

Further, Lynch highlighted that the water division would now focus on tendering for larger contracts. “During September, we gained two larger contracts of around R400 000 a month, which already contributed to the results.”

Meanwhile, Rolfes further reported satisfactory performances from its other divisions, which all recorded growth in the three months to September 30.

Rolfes’s agriculture division posted a 19.2% increase in operating profit to R9.3-million for the three months. The division supplies foliar feed, organic and adjuvant products into high-value permanent and semipermanent crops providing a natural barrier against drought conditions.

The growth in profit was driven by an above-average off season performance in the Western Cape and the full potential of operational restructuring initiatives that were undertaken during the last quarter of the financial year ended June 30, starting to come to fruition.

The group’s food division, which distributes food ingredients into various industries, achieved similar growth patterns to its pre-acquisition performance.

The business was acquired effective October 1, 2015. Operating profit for the September quarter was R23-million, compared with the R13.9-million recorded in the quarter ended September 30,  2015.

Growth drivers include the larger national footprint, owing to the takeoff in coastal regions, established during the last financial year; rising food prices and increased staple demand.

Meanwhile, Rolfes’s industrial portfolio, which supplies traded products into the manufacturing, agriculture and water industries, achieved a 15.2% increase in profit to R12.1-million.

This was attributable to higher product volume demand, export growth, good cost control and effective treasury management.