Record boost for Barloworld's Russian Equipment division

Johannesburg – Though Barloworld's [JSE:BAW] overall interim revenue has grown by 1%, headline earnings per share have increased by 14% year-on-year, with profits growing by 16.7% to R1.001bn.

Interim dividends per share were up 16% at 145 cents.

The group released its results for the six months ended March 31 2018 on Monday morning.

Revenue increased to R30.9bn, primarily on the back of improved performance in Equipment Russia and Equipment Southern Africa, the group said.

Equipment Southern Africa saw revenue increasing by 5.6%, from R8.2m to R8.6m.

Barloworld Limited's Equipment Russia, meanwhile, delivered record revenue of US$296.5m (R3.7bn) – up 77%. This was attributed to benefiting from greenfield and brownfield mining projects, as well as a recovery in commodity prices, particularly in the coal sector.

Chief Executive of Barloworld, Dominic Sewela, said Barloworld was focusing on improving performance throughout the group.

"We continue to drive focus on addressing underperformance across the business. In line with that, on 25 April 2018 we announced the disposal of the Equipment Iberia business, which is expected to be concluded by 2 July 2018, with the sale price representing a premium to net asset value."

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Operating profit for the group amounted to R1.954bn, 6.1% up from the previous year. Barloworld said the increase was due to stronger mining machine sales mix contributions in both Equipment Southern Africa and Equipment Russia.

The boost in the firm's Equipment division was offset by sluggish performance in Automotives and Logistics, which faced BMW and GM dealership closures during the course of the year.

Despite solid results, the Automotive and Logistics division posted a 5.8% decrease in revenue to R15.4bn.

Barloworld would keep focusing on building the business in emerging markets, Sewela said. "We continue to evaluate high-return opportunities aligned to our capability in emerging markets."

Barloworld shares were trading at R156.26 per share on Monday afternoon at 14:56, down 1.72%.