Construction firm Esorfranki said on Friday that it expected its interim profit for the four months to 30 June, to shoot up despite signs that business activity in the sector had slowed down.

“Headline earnings for the above period increased by at least 150% when compared to the same period of 2011,” Esorfranki said in a trading update.

Revenue was seen coming in 30% up compared with the corresponding period last year. Outstanding order book was at about R2.7 billion on 30 June.

Construction sector research body, Industry Insights, said in a recent report that the number of build and civil contracts shrank 11.7% in June this year compared with the same month last year. Civil and construction contract awards, dropped 13.2% and 9.7% respectively.

“The industry is still at a lower turning point, of what was hoped to have been the start of a recovery period, but at the slow pace by which contracts are awarded, suggests difficult times will remain for longer than expected,” Industry Insights said.

The annual growth rate of awarded contracts slowed from 17% to 11% for civil projects and 41% to 12 for build projects.

But Esorfrank looks poised to the buck the trend in the sector. Its shares closed up 7.83% at R1.24 on the JSE on Friday.

Source: The New Age