Rise in demand for commodities behind Grindrod’s first profit in four years
The group turned in its first full-year profit in since 2015 on the back of buoyant global demand for commodities as iron ore, ferrochrome and copper
After a few difficult years, the rise in demand for commodities such as iron and copper is now playing a big part in driving growth at freight and financial services group Grindrod. The group, which on Wednesday managed to turn in its first full-year profit in four years, has also seen its fortunes improve since it separately listed its shipping operation on Nasdaq and the JSE in June 2018. Grindrod CEO Andrew Waller said a large part of its business was driven by the performance of the global economy, which was in reasonably good shape, despite concerns about the fallout from a possible trade war between the US and China. Several of the group’s operations benefited from the buoyant global demand for commodities such as iron ore, chrome, ferrochrome, and copper. Revenue from continuing operations was up 16% to R24.65bn, operating profit increased from R426.1m to R452.1m, and net profit rose from R721.1m to R875.2m. Transport and logistics company Super Group also reported in its hal...
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