Afrimat Group reports 92.3% increase in headline earnings

AFRIMAT, the mid-tier industrial minerals mining group, increased headline earnings substantially by 92.3% to 101.9 cents in the six months to August 31 after measures to fix its cement business gained traction and it sold much greater iron ore volumes.

- EDWARD WEST

"The group made several key improvements, and the results are becoming tangible," said the CEO, Andre van Heerden. The cement business saw a big increase in sales but did not yet make a profit due to kiln reliability factors, while phosphate sales also did not translate into profits because the business was still being built up, said the CFO, Pieter de Wit, in an interview.

Group revenue increased by 29.9% to R 5.3 billion. The interim dividend was doubled to 20 cents a share. Operating profit was up 29.8% to R 379.8 million.

"The focus was on meticulous operational execution to ensure Afrimat unlocks the full potential of its diversified asset base. The troubled Lafarge South Africa assets that we recently acquired have now been fully integrated into our structures, and good progress has been made with the turnaround of these businesses," said Van Heerden. The cement operations have currently reached break-even, said De Wit. Local iron ore sales saw volumes increase sharply to 830 662 tons from 339 648 tons. Iron ore export volumes increased to 396 384 tons from 349 084 tons.