PPC, which has already increased the price of its cement 8,5% this year, said the hike of about 5% in July was meant to bring cement prices in line with March’s producer price inflation of 11,8%.

The increase will drive up construction costs generally, and the costs of the government’s infrastructure spending programme.

PPC CE John Gomersall said the increases were needed due to higher input costs, such as electricity, fuel and transport, which he said had risen well above producer inflation. He said the rise in the price of cement was a global phenomenon, and prices were being pushed by rising energy costs.

“Our electricity costs have increased 14% already; coal has gone up 30% on average; diesel is up 28% and our delivery costs have gone up 19% for the year to date.

“W e expect another increase in July to bring our overall increase for the year above 11% ,” he said. An increase in the price of cement is set to result in a further escalation in construction costs and, in particular, drive up the cost of the government’s infrastructure spending programme now worth more than R500bn, as well as projects such as the Gautrain.

Increased costs in the government’s infrastructure project will put a heavier burden on the national purse. Higher prices could also have further inflationary effects.

Higher costs are also likely to contribute to a slowdown in the residential property development sector, which is already feeling the pinch of higher interest rates and the National Credit Act.

The price of cement and other building materials have soared considerably in the past couple of years due to a boom in the construction sector, driven largely by government investment in infrastructure in preparation for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

The increase in prices prompted the Competition Commission in October last year to look at the building materials and construction sectors with a view to investigate anticompetitive practices that might have driven up the costs of the government’s spending.

The commission has been concerned by some trends, including price increases in construction running substantially above inflation.

At the time, the commission noted building material prices were up about 80% since 2000 and across a range of items, from bricks to cement to steel.

Yesterday PPC announced healthy results for its half-year to March, despite a slight decline in regional demand for cement. Revenue grew 13% to R2,9bn, and operating profit rose 9% to R1,077bn compared with the same period last year. Headline earnings per share improved 16%, boosted partly by a reduction in the effective normal taxation and secondary tax on companies. The company declared a dividend of 45c a share.

PPC said demand for cement in southern Africa fell 1,3% for the period due to the combination of high rainfall, the Easter holidays falling in March this year and a softening of demand from the residential sector.

The residential sector had largely been hit by the combined effects of the National Credit Act and higher interest rates, while high rainfall had slowed expansion projects.

The company said the decline in residential construction was likely to limit industry regional cement demand growth this year to between 2% and 4%.

However, Gomersall said the effects of the slowdown in the residential sector had been offset by the continued increase in government and private sector infrastructure spending.

PPC’s share price gained 69c, or 1,8%, to R39,64, yesterday, valuing it at about R21bn.

Neil Potgieter took the helm of Grinaker-LTA Building earlier this year, following the promotion of predecessor Neil Cloete to Group MD of Grinaker-LTA. Unveiling his first strategic plan for the division, Potgieter notes that Grinaker-LTA Building’s order book has changed in recent months from one dominated by private sector projects to one in which a substantial portion of work is coming from Government.  “In the past number of years, most of our work has traditionally been for private sector clients, on projects like office blocks, shopping centres and residential accommodation. Our current order book has changed - most notably in the Cape - to one in which a large chunk of our work is now being undertaken for Government.”

The division is busy with more than R1 billion of work at Cape Town International Airport, a state-of-the-art forensics facility planned to boost the country’s fight against crime, three 2010 soccer stadiums, a prison in Kimberley and a youth care centre for juvenile offenders in Bhisho.

Grinaker-LTA Building, in joint venture with Stocks Africa, is undertaking a R664-million contract to build a new integrated terminal, as well as a R375-million contract for the construction of a new multi-storey parkade, at Cape Town International Airport.
In Plattekloof, Cape Town, the division is currently busy with the construction of a new high-tech forensic facility that will enhance the SA Police Service’s fight against crime. This R359-million contract for the Department of Public Works is scheduled for completion in March 2010.

The construction of the new Kimberley medium security correctional centre is progressing well, and is on track for completion in February next year, Potgieter states. Grinaker-LTA Building is undertaking this R777-million contract in a joint venture with BEE company Keren Kula Construction. Situated on Griekwastad Road, 1 km outside Kimberley, this facility will provide accommodation for 3 000 adult male offenders.

Grinaker-LTA Building’s R230-million contract for the construction of the Department of Public Works’ new “Special Youth Care Centre” in the Eastern Cape capital of Bhisho is due for completion in May 2009. This facility is designed to accommodate 320 juvenile offenders.

The division’s work on 2010 stadiums includes the construction contract for the main event stadium, Soccer City in Soweto, the contract for the construction of the new Orlando Stadium in Soweto - which is due for completion next month (May 2008) – and the construction of Nelson Mandela Stadium in Port Elizabeth. Grinaker-LTA’s Soccer City and Nelson Mandela Stadium contracts are being undertaken in joint venture with Interbeton bv, part of the Royal BAM Group from Holland.

But while Government contracts have bolstered its order book, Grinaker-LTA Building is still keeping busy with private projects ranging from more than R1.5-billion of retail contracts and a striking new casino resort to luxury housing and golf courses in Mauritius.

The division’s retail projects include a R350-million contract to extend and refurbish the popular Eastgate shopping centre in Bedfordview, east of Johannesburg, and a R550-million contract – being undertaken in joint venture with ENZA Construction – to build a new 60 000 m2 shopping centre in Durban’s new Bridge City Precinct, which boarders Kwa-Mashu and Phoenix. Grinaker-LTA is also building two more new malls in Durban – the 35 000 m2 Westwood Shopping Centre in Westville and Philani Valley in Umlazi, and is wrapping up contracts to extend and refurbish Richards Bays’ Boardwalk Shopping Centre.

Near Krugersdorp (Mogale City), Grinaker-LTA Building is close to completing its R733-million contract for the construction of the Silverstar Casino Resort.

Rehm-Grinaker, the Mauritian construction company in which Grinaker-LTA is a shareholder, has an order book in the region of R600 million, Potgieter says. This includes work on several projects falling under the groundbreaking new Mauritian property ownership system, the ‘Integrated Resort Scheme’ (IRS), which is allowing foreigners to purchase property in Mauritius for the first time. Rehm-Grinaker’s contracts include an 18-hole championship golf course designed by Ernie Els at the Anahita resort. This development is set to be the largest and most extravagant IRS development on the East coast of Mauritius. It also aims to be one of the top five developments of its kind in the world in the next five years, amid tough competition from regions like Dubai.
 
With its growing workload, Grinaker-LTA Building has also doubled its people resources, and Potgieter says he currently has in excess of 4 700 people under his leadership. He has cited safety and skills development as strategic priorities going forward, and notes that the shortage of skills in the industry is a challenge. “Training is a critical focus area, and we have numerous learnerships, apprenticeships and bursary schemes in place to begin to address the current skills deficit. An in-house training centre is operating in KwaZulu-Natal and provides training in various construction disciplines such as carpentry and brick-laying.”

Potgieter believes one of the greatest challenges currently facing the building industry is the power outages. “The power crisis could cause significant delays and disruptions on new developments. In most cases, we have stand-by generators on our sites, to minimise downtime, but this is a concern.

“The upside, however, is the new business to be picked up in the construction of new power stations. As part of the multi-disciplinary Aveng Group, Grinaker-LTA Building is well-placed to capitalise on this,” he concludes.

While the residential and nonresidential construction market is heading for slow growth this year because of higher interest rates, the civil construction sector is expected to grow 33%.

Local construction companies stand to benefit from the boom that is expected to carry on until at least 2015, influenced largely by governmental infrastructure spending of R560bn over the next three years.

Coupled with this is Eskom’s R1-trillion budget to build power stations, Transnet’s building of railway lines, ports and fuel pipelines, and private sector expansion programmes.

Strong demand and rising commodity prices are also driving expansion in the mining sector, which will benefit the construction sector.

According to Reserve Bank data, the value of construction works reached an estimated R46bn last year, a 32% increase in real terms from R34,7bn in 2006.

South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (Safcec) economist Pierre Blaauw says the estimate is an annualised figure, with the final number due at the end of this month. “Turnover this high was last seen during the construction boom in the 1970s, when the industry recorded a figure breaching the R40bn mark for the first time,” Blaauw says.

“Safcec’s numbers indicate growth between 25% and 30% for the civil engineering industry alone last year.”

He says the good news is that spending on the government's R560bn infrastructure budget started only last year and that this year and next should see further growth for the industry.

“We expect a 13%-16% increase in civil engineering industry turnover this year. It may sound small compared to last year’s record number, but this comes off a higher base,” he says.

Despite challenging macro economic conditions, infrastructure spending is steaming ahead, which bodes well for the industry, which has experienced 80% growth in turnover since 2004.

Blaauw says infrastructure spending is a prerequisite to maintain economic growth.

Blaauw says the biggest challenge the civil engineering industry will face this year will be capacity constraints. Companies will need to increase their capacity by acquiring new capital assets, locating and securing the necessary skills, buying up smaller firms, and expanding their education and training budgets.

Most big construction companies are already at work on projects such as the Gautrain, stadiums, and upgrading of airports and ports.

The likes of Murray & Roberts, Aveng and Group Five are either part of infrastructure development programmes or are bidding with international groups to build power stations and big projects.

Cadiz African Harvest portfolio manager Rajay Ambekar says gross fixed capital formation had peaked at about 30% in 1976 but has since been coming down to the current 15% of gross domestic product (GDP). “The target is 25% of GDP,” Ambekar says.

International construction companies are partnering with local companies that are unable to cope with the load and lack expertise, especially for big projects. “No South African company can build a power station on its own. A lot of civil construction would be done by local companies while technical expertise is brought by international companies,” Ambekar says.

However, he says there is a risk of delays that are outside companies’ control, which could be costly. Blaauw agrees, saying there will be more supply-side constraints than demand-side constraints.

According to Statistics SA, the construction industry showed the biggest jump of all economic sectors in acquiring capital assets from 2005 to 2006, recording a 73% increase. Salaries and wages rose 16,6%. Blaauw says it is likely the industry will have doubled in size between 2004 and next year. .

In 2006 there were four large international construction firms registered with the Construction Industry Development Board, rising to 11 last year.

“We are likely to see a further increase in competition from abroad over the next two to three years, as well as from smaller companies growing into larger firms able to compete for bigger contracts.”

As expected, in Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s budget, an enormous amount of money is to be spent on infrastructure.

As I mentioned yesterday, there’s no shortage of money to help alleviate poverty and develop our economy — the problem is to manage the resources efficiently.

For construction companies — as I cited from Group Five’s results for the half-year ended December 31 — a fundamental investment problem is the difficulties in managing the awarding and implementation of contracts.

In due course, the infrastructural plans in the budget will be implemented and Group Five and other construction companies will benefit from these.

“In due course” is, of course, an elastic period of time. Even so, there is some solid evidence that the construction sector is in a growth phase that could last at least beyond 2015.

In its 2007 financial year-end (June 30) presentation, Group Five showed a chart of the market outlook for the construction sector. The chart was sourced from Stellenbosch University’s Bureau of Economic Research. The figures used were of real (inflation excluded) investment in construction works.

The chart confirms that the sector is in a five-year growth cycle. In 2003, total construction work was valued at about R25bn, which in real terms was below the figure in 1991 when it last enjoyed a growth phase.

In 1981, the peak year of previous state infrastructural growth, total construction work amounted to R40 billion. Only last year was that figure again reached.

Stellenbosch’s bureau forecast takes this figure to more than R65 billion by 2015, of which the public sector is expected to contribute R50 billion.

Five years ago, Group Five’s share price was about R5,30. Its historic price:earnings ratio then was around five, and its share price trend was boringly flat. But as the cycle sector progressively improved, the company’s turnover and profits rose and the share price responded positively.

In the 2003 financial year the company’s headline earnings per share were 120c. Last year they were 283c. The share price is now at about R51,50 — about 10 times the 2003 figure — but the historic price:earnings ratio is more than 17.

Murray and Roberts (M&R), the construction counter we hold in the Private Investor portfolio, is on an historic price:earnings ratio of more than 20. Rather than believing M&R is overpriced, there is good reason to believe that Group Five is underpriced.

My guesstimate of its forward fully diluted headline earnings per share for the financial year ended June 30 this year is about 330c, giving the share a forward price:earnings ratio of about 15,5 — a bit low relative to earnings growth expectation of about 30% 40% over the medium term.

Group Five also looks an interesting buy on the technical indicators. The share price is still in a bear trend, but the price has broken through all its moving averages. It has a count to R58, a less probable count to R63 and its resistance is around R52.

South African construction group Group Five on Monday reported a 45% rise in fully diluted headline earnings per share to 145c for the six months ended December from 100c a year ago.

An interim dividend of 45c per share was declared, up from 30c a year earlier. Revenue grew 12% to R4.495 billion from R4.004 billion before, while operating profit – at R279.6 million - was up 103% from a year earlier.

The group also generated R360 million in cash in the six months under review. Operating performance improved at all group segments except Manufacturing, it said.

It added that the focus on improving the quality of the order book, improving contract execution and improving cash collections has delivered a robust performance, with the majority of the group's businesses showing an improvement.

The core business of Construction posted an improvement in returns and Construction Materials performed well in line with expectations and delivered margin enhancing returns to the group's results.

Manufacturing activities were affected by slow first quarter sales and pricing pressures from imports.

Group Five formed a new joint venture in August 2007 with the Barnes Group of Companies - Barnes Reinforcing Industries - supplying rebar, weld mesh, brick force and binding wire.

This operation has expanded and strengthened the group's manufacturing portfolio and supported the Construction operations' drive to improve margins, it said.

The group further expanded its Construction Materials portfolio by acquiring 100% of plaster firm Sky Sands for R124 million, with effect from 1 July 2007.

Sky Sands, which is involved in the supply of plaster and washed sand products to building materials merchants, the building industry and the pre-cast concrete products industry, has exploitable sand reserves estimated to be in excess of 25 years of production, together with further mining opportunities on the Sky Sands properties.

The acquisition complements the group's expansion and growth strategy in the infrastructure sector and assists in mitigating the risk of future materials shortages with respect to key building and infrastructure contracts, especially in the Gauteng market.

In addition, Bernoberg, a small niche manufacturer of cement extender, was acquired for R32 million.

Bernoberg further diversifies the business portfolio in the construction materials supply sector and complements the existing product range. The Bernoberg acquisition was effective from 1 October 2007, it said.

Looking ahead, the group said the recent power outages have not materially affected Group Five's construction operations, as measures had already been put in place to address such an occurrence.

Short term risks to performance are primarily related to the effect on suppliers and the group's Manufacturing operations, should the number of power outages worsen.

A detailed investigative risk review of all of the group's operations and construction sites has been completed and steps taken to mitigate the effect of outages.

The group continues to receive a number of attractive opportunities in local fixed investment spending. Mining, power and oil and gas activity in Africa also continues to offer high growth potential.

Group Five's total secured construction order book as at end December 2007 is R14.1 billion (60% local) and the secured one year order book for F2008 is R7 billion ( 62% local).

Management is satisfied that the group has access to sufficient resources to successfully execute the higher levels of activity ahead.

"The group is therefore well placed to achieve another year of solid earnings growth, while delivering improving value to its shareholders," it said.

State power utility Eskom is often criticised for its seeming unwillingness to embrace alternative and renewable energy platforms in seeking ways to align its production with fast-increasing demand

Health facilities need to have positive, healing environments

Super-bullish conditions in infrastructure are supporting consolidation and organic growth in the sector, and it seems there are still attractive returns to be had.

Roads & civils specialist Raubex, which listed in March this year, has made its largest move to date, gobbling up peer company B&E in a R514 million deal that will allow the company to bulk up capacity.

Aneshrin Pillay, an analyst with Afri-focus Securities, says the deal is substantial: "It's in line with their strategy to enhance their materials business and it looks to be earnings-enhancing and margin-enhancing."

B&E will slot in nicely with Raubex's aggregates and crushing operation, Raumix. The market appears to like the deal, with the share moving at least 4% on the announcement.

However, says Pillay, a deal this size does eat into the company's cash resources, and this is compounded by the fact that it has already shelled out about R160 million on capital equipment.

The transaction will be funded through a combination of shares and cash, which will see B&E receive about 9m shares (worth about R295m) and R218m in cash.

Rowan Goeller, an analyst with Macquarie First South Securities, says the transaction grows the company's fleet and skills base, and will allow it to take on more work, since one of Raubex's strengths is to "move their plant around and do crushing work for the other contracts they have".

Goeller says B&E is being bought at a historic price:earnings ratio of about 10, based on the past six months' financial performance.

According to I-Net Bridge, Raubex is trading at almost three times the p:e of B&E. The only concern raised over the deal is the dilution to shareholders, but if the deal delivers more profitable growth, shareholders aren't likely to notice.

Another company that has been moving to strengthen its market position is construction company Sanyati. It continues to expand beyond its roots in KwaZulu Natal, and with its R220 million acquisition of the Meyker Group it is now active in seven of the nine provinces.

In the six months to end-August, Sanyati acquired construction and civils companies Ruthcon and GEM. Before that it bought Hibiscus Asphalt and Mega Pile.

The group will be paying for the Meyker transaction in tranches over the next four years. The transaction is being funded through cash and shares (about 44 million will be issued).

Sanyati CEO Rick Jackson says it's likely the group will make one more large transaction so as to meet its 2012 revenue target of R2,7 billion.

Another company making moves is Protech Khuthele, which this week announced the acquisition of two ready-mix operations for R79 million.

Protech is primarily a fast-track bulk earthworks company, but chief financial officer Nellis Wolmarans says it also does some civils work.

This requires a fair amount of concrete and readymix, which the company has had to rely on suppliers for.

"In the past we have called readymix suppliers and they don't arrive the next day or the day after. Even if we place huge orders we can end up waiting for weeks, which holds us up," says Wolmarans.

He says Protech has in the past moved to make itself more efficient by diversifying its business. "We started our geotechnical laboratory for the same reason, because the labs we were using weren't keeping pace with us."

The company will also be able to diversify the service offering on contracts, as it will now have the plant and skills to take on more civils work, such as culverts and drains.

Protech CEO Gerald Chapman says the six plants the business is acquiring will boost earnings, which "should be handsomely compounded in the months and years ahead, given especially the construction industry's rapid growth".

In related news, M&R said shareholders could look forward to earnings per share that would be between 40% and 50% higher for the six months to end-December and the year to end-June 2008, than in the previous comparable periods.

Proceeds from disposals of noncore assets are likely to lift these respective performances by as much as 110%.

M&R also said it had secured a seven-year, R7 billion contract for Eskom's first new coal-fired power station, Medupi, involving steel fabrication, erection and mechanical installation.

Goeller says it is likely that construction companies will continue to deliver outstanding performances "for a while yet", as government's spending was only beginning to have an impact now.

He also says all the indications are that the private sector is starting to make available the infrastructure spending that had previously been put on hold.

Construction company Group Five announced that its infrastructure concessions business, intertoll, was part of a consortium that had been awarded the R11 billion M6 Phase 3 Motorway Project in Hungary.

Intertoll held 10% of the concession company and would lead the operations and maintenance activities for the project, it said.

Revenue was expected to start flowing through to Intertoll from the beginning of next year, with full-scale operations beginning in 2010.

Intertoll’s partners on the project are Strabag of Germany, France’s Colas and John Laing Infrastructure from the UK.

The 78km dual carriageway project includes the construction and maintenance of 55 structures and four tunnels totalling more than 3km. The 30-year concession project reached financial close on November 21.

Intertoll was part of Group Five’s infrastructure concessions business and offers toll system design, procurement, implementation and operation, together with related services such as routine road maintenance.

The business has equity interests in two other service concessions in Eastern Europe and operates toll roads in SA.

“Since joining the European Union in 2004, the transit traffic through Hungary from Romania and Bulgaria has increased more than 30%.

Hungary has ambitious plans to develop its road infrastructure under an aggressive timeline, and the M6 Phase 3 is an important part of this plan,” said head of Group Five Infrastructure Concessions Eric Vemer.

Vemer said that the project reinforced and added depth to Intertoll’s position in Hungary and the group’s growing profile in eastern Europe.

The project was tendered and closed in record time, with pre-qualifications announced in May, tenders submitted in September, the preferred bidder chosen in October and financial closure last month.

Group Five last month said it had further expanded its manufacturing and construction materials portfolio by acquiring Bernoberg, a small niche manufacturer of cement extender, for R32m.

Early this year, the group said that it planned to increase its revenue from R5,8 billion to R7,3 billion by the end of the 2008 financial year next June.

Civil engineering and construction group Sanyati Holdings on Tuesday said government contracts and extending operations beyond KwaZulu-Natal had boosted its order book, positioning the black economic empowerment company to achieve its forecast net profit of R53 million for the 2007-08 financial year.

The order book included a R25 million contract for civil infrastructure work in Polokwane, a R75 million road rehabilitation contract in Gamtoos, Eastern Cape, and a R1,9 billion contract for civil works on the new King Shaka International Airport in Durban.

Releasing the company’s results for the six months ended August, CEO Rick Jackson said the buoyant growth in the construction industry boded well for the firm. He said though 66% of Sanyati’s contracts came from KwaZulu-Natal, he was pleased at the inroads the company had made in Gauteng.

“The Gauteng operations are up and running with (the group’s piling subsidiary) Mega Pile’s first R2 million contract ,” said Jackson.

Gauteng accounted for 22% of Sanyati’s contracts, with the balance split among Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape and Zambia.

In an effort to grow the business , Sanyati said, it had acquired Gauteng-based Ruthcon Civil Contractors and GEM Earthworks, which has operations in Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga.

Net profit for the period under review doubled to R22,9 million on a 105% increase in revenue to R396,2 million — up from R192,5 million.

Cash generated from operations surged to R10,9 million from a loss of R4,5 million. Headline earnings per share increased to 8,74c from 5,73c.

Of Sanyati’s four business units, Civils Coastal was the biggest contributor to overall performance.

Revenue accumulated by C ivils C oastal was R215 million. Its performance was boosted by large-scale projects such as the R117 million tender to construct roads in Barberton, and the R52 million contract to construct a water pipeline in Umgeni, on the south coast.

The unit also stood to gain R190 million over the next 19 months after the Ilembe Consortium was awarded a R1,9 billion contract to build the R6,8bn King Shaka International Airport.