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Industrial engineering group PSV Holdings said on Tuesday that it had been awarded several contracts that would bring “welcome relief” as it headed towards the end of its financial year on February 28.
“We have spent time ensuring group tender processes and interactions with clients are enhanced and this has paid off,” CEO Abie da Silva said in a statement.
Among additions to the group’s order book, PSV subsidiary African Cryogenics, which supplied cryogenics and industrial gas equipment, had recently been awarded a number of contracts, including the manufacture of hydrogen piping skids for a “major” petrochemicals company.
It had also been contracted to manufacture a dry vapour phase transformer drying system, as well as install cryogenic flow meters to deliver liquefied gas.
“These three projects are worth some R17-million,” said the company.
Another PSV company, Turbo Agencies, which operated in Botswana, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and offered bespoke and turnkey solutions through various agency agreements, had been awarded contracts worth in excess of R25-million a year.
“Turbo will [also] be resigning three major crane maintenance contracts in Zambia. It has further been awarded contracts for crane refurbishment and maintenance in the DRC, as well as being awarded a contract for the supply of tools in Zambia,” outlined Da Silva.
Meanwhile, PSV’s piping company Omnirapid was recently awarded a one-off, R30-million contract to supply piping to a mine in the DRC, while subsidiary Engineered Linings – a geosynthetic lining systems provider – was awarded an R8-million contract to supply these linings to a mine in the DRC.
In addition, PSV recently won a “major” arbitration arising with the buyer of Groupline Projects, which PSV sold in 2011. This would result in an injection of R3.5-million, plus legal costs, into the company.
Da Silva indicated that these funds would be used to reduce debt and to fund working capital.
He added that, at the corporate level, PSV had substantially rightsized its head office, reducing overhead costs by around R1-million a month.
“The full benefit of this process is expected to be felt in the new financial year. We have made a concerted effort across the group to ensure increased contract flow and to reduce head office costs. These efforts are bearing fruit and we now need to ensure we remain vigilant in the implementation of the contracts as the resultant income flow will benefit the [group’s] 2016 results,” he concluded.