A decade ago the construction industry was thriving. Bell Equipment hit amazing highs, with its share price reaching a record R49.78. Today the share price is a third of that. The impact of the global financial crisis and the aftermath of the 2010 Soccer World Cup construction boom left the likes of Bell scrambling to find value elsewhere. Bell's profit for 2016 was down to R39-million from the previous year's R142-million. This resulted in Bell taking more of its manufacturing and assembly capacity to Germany. Gary Bell, CEO and grandson of Bell Equipment founder Irvine Bell, said this made economic sense for them because of the cost benefit. "The possibility of taking the products offshore is not dependent on the mining industry," he said. 'The global market for our core product is very much in the northern hemisphere. "Our US and European markets take a lot more product than the southern hemisphere." With Africa's big economies still under pressure, local construction and mining ...
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