Things are looking a bit better

BUILDMAX, the listed opencast mining contractor and building materials supplier, achieved an improved financial performance in the year to February after taking action to address the impact on the company of the crisis in the global mining industry. The company said yesterday that although the outlook for the global mining industry had improved since the end of last year because of increased demand and prices for commodities, this was not the case for Buildmax. It said that the global mining industry had been in crisis over the immediate past, which took a heavy toll, particularly in bulk commodities such as iron ore, manganese, chrome, copper and coal. Buildmax said extreme measures, such as head count cuts, were required to survive, adding that several companies were placed in business rescue or liquidation while capital expenditure was shelved. The company said it was adversely affected by these unfavourable conditions because it was mainly involved in coal. Buildmax responded to this environment by reducing overheads, switching to leasing a portion of its assets, closing those sections of its business that could no longer obtain profitable work and cancelling loss-making contracts. “This led to an improved financial performance,” the company said. Buildmax yesterday reported a narrowing in its headline loss a share to 20.3 cents in the year to February from the loss of 84c in the previous year. Revenue decreased to R925.2 million from R944.6m. Buildmax said this was in line with the group’s strategy to terminate loss making contracts. Buildmax shares closed flat at 20c on the JSE yesterday. – Roy Cokayne