Johannesburg - South African industrial conglomerate
Barloworld [JSE:BAW] reported a 70% jump in first-half earnings on Monday, driven by demand
from the mining industry, and said it expects strong full-year results.
Barloworld, which supplies equipment to miners and is the
biggest dealer of Caterpillar products in southern Africa, said diluted
headline earnings per share totalled 243.1 cents in the six months to end-March
versus 143.5c a year earlier.
Revenue rose 19% to R28.1bn. The company hiked its interim
dividend by 60% to 80c per share.
Investors watch Barloworld’s performance carefully as it is
seen as proxy for the broader mining industry. The company said earnings were
helped by robust demand from Russia.
“While the Chinese growth outlook has moderated, commodity
demand remains strong,” the company said in a statement.
“In Russia the strong activity levels experienced in the
first half are expected to be exceeded in the second half.
This is underpinned by ... continued demand for commodities
and a growing domestic economy.”
Shares of Barloworld are up 8% so far this year,
outperforming a 3.6% rise in Johannesburg’s All Share [JSE:J203] index.
Barloworld shares jumped 2.5% in early trade on Monday.
Barloworld was up 1.3% at R82.40 at 07:08 GMT, after earlier
rising 2.5%.
