JSE-listed engineering and construction group Murray & Roberts (M&R) expects to growth its order book beyond the current level of R60-billion on the back of growing demand for its services.

“Over the next three years, the group expects most of its revenue to be generated by its two international business platforms, being the mining and the energy, resources and infrastructure platforms,” M&R said in a business update released to coincide with its seventy-third annual general meeting.

The project pipeline, the group said, included projects being negotiated on a sole-source basis.

“It is anticipated that the largest of these projects, with a group order book contribution of circa R20-billion, will be awarded to the energy, resources and infrastructure platform during the current financial year.”

That platform is active mainly the Asia-Pacific region and the Americas and has a current order backlog of R37.2-billion.

The mining platform, with regional businesses in Africa, the Americas and Australasia, has a R20.8-billion backlog.

Its Southern Africa-focused power, industrial and water platform, meanwhile, had a far more modest order book of only R600-million, owing to a lack of infrastructure investment in this region.

The platform recently established a solar business to pursue industrial photovoltaic  opportunities up to 10 MW in scale and has secured its first projects, albeit on a small scale.

“With the increase in the unlicensed self-generation limit from 1 MW to 100 MW, this business is  likely to see more prospects in the medium term.”

The platform also expected to secure some orders for Eskom transmission lines and with renewables independent power producers during the second half of its current financial year.

“Continuing operations returned to profitability in the 2021 financial year, and it is expected that the group has entered a multi-year period of strong earnings growth.

“This view is supported by the growing demand for the group’s services as evidenced by its current order book of about R60-billion, which is anticipated to grow even further,” the company said.