Listed construction, steel and cement group Aveng says it still expects its headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the full financial year to end-June 2005 to be between 40% and 60% higher than those recorded a year earlier.

Providing a third quarter trading update, Aveng said that operating conditions remained in line with comments the group had made while presenting its interim results for the six months to end-December 2004, with trading for the third quarter of the year supporting its trading statement of 18 January.

The order book in its construction cluster of businesses had increased to 7.8 billion rand at the end of March from 7.2 billion rand in December 2004, and Grinaker-LTA was now operating as focused divisions, the group said.

Demand for Aveng's products in its steel and allied operations remained positive, and in line with expectations.

At the same time, the group revealed, cement sales had continued to increase in the first quarter of 2005, with industry tonnage up 5.1% on the first quarter of 2004.

The first draft of the Construction Charter has been completed, the group noted. Aveng's transaction with the TisoGroup-led empowerment consortium was broadly in line with the proposed charter requirements.

Finally, it said, Aquarius Platinum (South Africa) (Pty) Limited had agreed to an independent audit, resulting in the planned arbitration hearing in respect of the Marikana dispute being postponed. Management was in ongoing consultation with legal counsel to bring this matter to a positive conclusion.