Speaking at the company’s 37th Annual General Meeting last week, Mangoma told stakeholders that the current order book stood at US$29 million as at October this year.
“There was a 23% contribution from the mining sector against last year’s 12% and this has led to an improvement in the order book,” said Mangoma.Investment in Zimbabwe’s mining sector has been deterred by uncertainty over the indigenisation law that the government has been advocating for.Investor concerns stem from the empowerment threshold, which is considered too high at 51%.
He said that the company’s construction division was breaking even while a total of US$1,6 million was spent on capital expenditure with focus mainly on equipment for onsite projects.
The company is also set to benefit from a significant number of tenders it won from government as the latter has increased focus on infrastructure development projects.
Most construction related companies have only managed to secure short-term projects as the liquidity crunch and economic constraints continue to determine levels of business activity.
“The situation is improving in the construction business although it’s all really a matter of funding for larger projects,” he said. Mangoma said the Proplastics division, a Murray & Roberts subsidiary that specialises in the manufacturing of PVC pipes and accessories, had performed exceptionally well this year too.
The Pro-plastics division order book stands at US$4 million as at October this year. “Capacity utilisation is up 54% from the previous 46% while the factory is presently loaded with orders,” he said adding that demand for products mainly emanate from local water authorities.
