SOUTH AFRICAN construction and engineering firm Group Five is ready to start operating in Zimbabwe if the political situation is resolved, the firm's chief executive officer said on Monday.
"We have a company registered there. It's been dormant for a while, but certainly we're ready to go into Zimbabwe," CEO Mike Upton told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is currently in talks with opposition leaders on a power-sharing deal mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Group 5 posted a 71 percent jump in full-year diluted headline earnings per share on Monday and its revenue for the year to end-June increased by 15 percent to 8.9 billion rand.
Construction firms like Group Five, Murray & Roberts and Aveng have benefited from an infrastructure boom in Africa's biggest economy driven in part by development ahead of the 2010 soccer World Cup, which has helped them shrug off a broader economic slowdown.
Upton said Group 5 was focusing on growing its business in commodities, oil and gas in Africa's private sector. The company operates in more than 18 countries on the continent, which contribute a third of its construction revenue.
He added that the group also saw growth potential in the Middle East, where it currently operates in the public sector.
"That (Africa, Middle East) is a very buoyant market for us. We're probably executing 2 billion rands worth of power projects ourselves," Upton said.
Group 5 has six open-cycle gas turbine projects in these regions, and also expects to be involved in energy projects with South Africa's state power utility Eskom, Upton said.
Eskom, which produces about 95 percent of the country's electricity, faced a crisis in January when the national grid virtually collapsed, forcing key gold and platinum mines shut, and plunging millions into darkness.
Upton was upbeat for 2009 and said Group 5 expects to achieve further strong earnings growth for its new financial year.
Its shares were trading up 1.97 percent at 43.95 rand at 0858 GMT, outperforming the Johannesburg All-Share index, which rose 1.45 percent to 27,147.01 points.
Reuters
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snoopy and dat red baron • na. Subject: empty vessels make the most noise Thu, 14 Aug 2008 07:47:16 • this is probably the most inane statement from an investor you can imagine, when thousands of others are also waiting on the sideline to move into Zimbabwe.
why do these people think they are any different?
In the meantime, others (CAMEC etc) are in there already, knee deep in platinum, making the situation work for them.
that is what you call a real vote of confidence in our country. not sitting on the sidelines making vague promises in press statements.
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