‘State business a fraction of Oakbay income’
OAKBAY Investments yesterday announced its maiden annual results‚ trumpeting a growth in private sector contracts and stating only 8.9% of revenue came from government business.
Group revenue in the year to end February increased by 7% to R2.62-billion (2015: R2.44-billion).
Government contracts accounted for 8.9% of the group’s revenue‚ the company said. Oakbay said its mining division contributed R1.17-billion of revenue and is the group’s largest division (44.5% of revenue).
“Mining division’s largest company is JIC Mining Services‚ a loss-making business prior to Oakbay’s acquisition in 2006. JIC has never had a government contract‚” the company stated.
Sahara is the second-highest contributor to the group reporting R1.1-billion of revenue‚ equal to 44% of group revenue.
“Sahara also does not have any government contracts‚ following a deliberate decision taken by its board in 2008‚” the results statement said.
Oakbay said its Brakfontein coal mine received its water use licence in December 2014‚ enabling it to commence mining and supply Eskom with coal from April 2015.
“This is the first time that any Oakbay business has mined coal and is a major milestone for the group.”
For the period‚ Brakfontein supplied 1.49 million mt of coal to Eskom. “This constituted just 1.25% of Eskom’s total coal supply.”
Oakbay’s 29% share in Tegeta equates to 0.43 million tonnes of supply and just 0.36% of Eskom’s total coal supply.
This coal was sold to Eskom at a rate of of R270 a ton.
“Oakbay’s media businesses‚ The New Age and ANN7‚ are profitable. Also, through innovative new platforms‚ such as the ‘TNA Business Breakfast’ with SABC and ANN7’s ‘SA Decides’ programmes‚ both have grown revenue for a mix of government and private sector advertising and sponsorships‚” it said.
CEO Nazeem Howa said: “We’ve been around for 20 years now in South Africa and have grown from eight employees to almost 8 000 today. We also paid R141-million as corporate income tax for the financial year.