Construction group Wilson Bayly Holmes – Ovcon (WBHO) has grown its order book from R22.8-billion in December to R23.5-billion in April, having secured new projects in all segments of its business, other than in West Africa.

The group said in a business update on Friday that, while the volatility of iron-ore and gold commodity prices had slowed development of mines in West Africa, it remained a preferred contractor for certain civil packages on the Mayoko iron-ore project, in the Republic of Congo.

“The formal award of the first package has been received, and we have a start date of June 6. The award of the remaining packages should alleviate the work procurement pressures in West Africa,” the JSE-listed company said.

Meanwhile, the margins of WHBO’s regional building divisions remained under pressure, but were performing well in the current environment. The civil division had been affected by the slowdown in mining-related infrastructure, but had seen some success in securing work in Zambia and Botswana. 

In addition, the roads and earthworks division generally performed well in all the African regions in which it operated, while payments for the Free State roads projects were being received in terms of the agreement with the Free State provincial government.

The company’s Australia-based Probuild business, meanwhile, was negatively impacted by three projects that were behind schedule, resulting in excessive costs to complete.

“The positive outcome of possible claims relating to these projects will not be resolved in this fiscal year; however, the balance of the business, in a very competitive environment, has performed adequately,” said the group.

In addition, while the execution of projects by WBHO Civil had improved, the business was affected by the slowdown in mining-related infrastructure activities in Australia. 

This came as Capital Africa Steel bought back 10% of its shares from Carlmac, which, if approved by the Competition Commission, would increase WBHO’s shareholding to above 50%, resulting in the Capital Africa Steel business being consolidated by WBHO. 

Meanwhile, WBHO had not yet reached an agreement with the Competition Commission with respect to fast-track settlement investigations into historical anti-competitive practices in the construction industry.

The commission announced in February last year that it had offered a “fast-track settlement” process for companies that had been party to collusive practices.

It was currently probing 65 bid-rigging cases, implicating over 70 projects, with an estimated value of R29-billion.

WBHO was not able to confirm the accuracy of the administrative penalty provision accounted for in the prior year.