Master Drilling, whose subsidiaries provide specialised drilling services to the mining, civil engineering and construction sectors internationally, is still struggling despite better minerals commodities markets. In the year ended December 2017, revenue inched up 2.8% to $121.4m, but operating profit fell marginally to $24.9m from $25.8m in 2016. A rise in the cost of sales offset the increase in turnover, as dollar headline earnings per share fell 18.9%. In rand terms the fall was 26.5%. Poor demand and increased finance charges on borrowings to support future growth, along with the exchange rate effect of emerging currencies, had a negative influence on profit for the period, which at $17.5m was down from $22.3m previously. "Despite 2017 having been a challenging year with global political changes and a tough local macroeconomic environment, we delivered stable operational results in 2017 with the continued focus on working capital bearing fruit in the form of satisfactory cash g...
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