Reunert boosts revenue in all segments
ELECTRONICS group Reunert has raised its dividend by 23% to 95c per share for the six months ending March, after reporting a rise in earnings.
CEO Dave Rawlinson said in yesterday’s interim results statement that Reunert had experienced reasonable demand for most of its products and services in the electrical segment during the period under review.
Revenue rose 10% to R5,7bn. He said increased revenue was achieved in all Reunert’s business segments, with subsidiaries Reutech and CBI-electric “being particularly strong”.
Operating profit grew 18% to R736m. Reunert operates in telecoms and provides services and infrastructure such as cables for the electricity and telecoms markets. It also provides products such as printers through Nashua, which is its biggest unit.
Nashua, which also houses the telecoms business, grew revenue 7% to R3,6bn, while operating profit rose 20% to R403m.
Revenue from CBI-electric rose 15% to R1,7bn, which Mr Rawlinson said “reflects a solid performance”. While CBI-electric’s low-voltage business continued to experience demand for its products from the US, the South African building sector was not showing signs of improvement, which dampened growth locally, Reunert said.
African Cables contributed the largest turnover in CBI-electric. But the telecoms cable unit had another disappointing first six months, “mainly because of the continued delay in the long-haul fibre networks and lower demand for copper cable from Telkom,” Mr Rawlinson said.
“International economic events … are having a knock-on effect on emerging markets and we believe the environment will be more challenging in the next six months,” he said.