(Business in Cameroon) - Weeks ago, the South African construction group Raubex was commissioned to build Douala Grand Mall & Business Park. Since April 25, 2018, this same company has been in charge of the construction of a 3-star hotel for Onomo Cameroon (A CFA15.5 billion investment from Onomo International).
These projects will boost Raubex’s financial health after the drop of investments in the construction sector in South Africa where the company is the leader of the road construction market.
Indeed, according to the Nigerian business news Business Day, during the financial year that ended in February 2018, the orders Raubex received from the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) registered a significant drop from 23% to 12%.
The website also reveals that “L&R Civils, a company acquired in July 2012 in anticipation of a roll-out of water infrastructure projects in Gauteng, was closed down (…) Raubex also closed Strata Civils, which contributed revenue of R37.2m and suffered a net loss of R17.5m. Construction orders from the provincial government fell by 54% and those from municipalities dropped by 11%”.
In view of that tendency in the construction market in South Africa, Raubex entered the real estate market to stay profitable. “We’ve had to shift our focus while we wait for Sanral and the government to spend more on projects. This is why we are doing more private work, including building and selling houses as well as refurbishing shopping centres. We are operating more in Africa, with new exciting work in Cameroon”, Rudolf Fourie, CEO of Raubex, said during the presentation of the company’s financial results in February 2018.
Thanks to this focus shift (the acquisition of 70% of the Australian group Westforce Construction Group in January 2018) and mainly to the contracts won in Cameroon, the company expects to boost its overall revenues which dropped by 5.1% during the fiscal year under review to stand at R8.54billion (CFA351 billion).
Brice R. Mbodiam