Afrimat has posted another set of healthy results as it con- tinues the momentum which has seen it grow its revenue rapidly since the 2012 financial year.
Labelled a specialist openpit miner, and no longer a construction materials supplier, acquisition-hungry Afrimat recorded a 38.8% increase in revenue for the six months ended August 31, compared with the same period last year, to R931.9-million. Profit for the period increased by 48.8% to R75.3-million.
Net cash from operating activities increased 37.1% to R119.1-million.
Revenue for the full 2102 financial year was R996-million.
CEO Andries van Heerden says Afrimat has restructured to reflect its new business interests, with the aggregates, industrial minerals, contracting, concrete products and ready-mix businesses now formed into two new divisions, namely mining and aggregates, and concrete-based products.
The mining and aggregates subsidiary currently makes up 84.8% of Afrimat’s turnover.
Afrimat has, since 2011, acquired the Glen Douglas dolomite mine, the Clinker group and the majority share in struggling resources group Infrasors.
Van Heerden says there could be more acquisitions in Afrimat’s future, but adds that the com- pany is currently focused on “rather consolidating what it had”.
He says there is significant synergy between Infrasors and Afrimat, and Afrimat is seeking ways to fully exploit this. Afrimat management is also still required to spend quite some time and effort to complete the turnaround at Infrasors.
However, he adds: “This does not exclude the possibility of new acquisitions, but there is nothing on the horizon for the next few months.”
Infrasors added more dolomite, as well as limestone and silica sand, to Afrimat’s portfolio.
As for the company’s continued quest to seek business operations outside South Africa, Van Heerden says Afrimat will not rush into the rest of Africa.
“There is a bit of a feeding frenzy going on there right now.”
However, he notes that Afrimat has a team tasked with investigating several business opportunities outside South Africa.
As for the South African environment, Van Heerden says there has been an uptick in both the building and civil confidence indices, which indicates that “things are a lot better than a year or two ago”.
The construction industry absorbs many of Afrimat’s products.
There is also a significant backlog in infrastructure in South Africa, which means that there is continued demand for the com- pany’s products.
Afrimat declared an interim dividend of 11c a share.