Along with most securities exchanges in the world, the JSE Limited is trading at an all time high, driven by positive investment sentiment towards South Africa and its markets. The construction sector has experienced a particularly positive run, with Murray & Roberts leading the sector in value growth over the past year.

We breached R17,0 billion market capitalisation in February and it seems almost impossible that just seven years ago, the company was valued at less than R1,0 billion. But there is much more to this.

We have more than trebled our core revenues during this period and our profits in these operations are up almost tenfold. We now directly employ almost 30 000 people and at least a further 20 000 people fall indirectly under our management through our various joint venture and associate operations.

We have developed a fantastic depth of leadership and management throughout our Group, clustered into various performance teams and mandated to engage their markets for sustainable earnings growth and value creation. We have strong values that bind us together as an organisation and that set the framework for how we go about our business. We do have lapses, but fewer these days, and we have effective mechanisms to deal with them.

But what of the future?
We have already stated that we expect further growth over the years ahead, both from our expectantly buoyant markets and our own strategies that have given us greater access to those markets. We expect that by 2010 the Group will possibly be five times larger than it was in 2000, serving its core markets in the construction economy. To achieve this we will have disposed of non-core companies worth R2,0 billion and acquired new core businesses also for a consideration of R2,0 billion.

Our performance challenge has never been greater than what it is going forward from today. Murray & Roberts is our company and its future is the responsibility of us all. The Leadership Pipeline you will read about in this Robust offers the opportunity for every person with talent, commitment and performance to achieve their personal objectives in Murray & Roberts.

Brian Bruce