Message from the CE

Dear Readers

While our financial results may reflect some concern for our present, the many opportunities in our various markets give much confidence for the future. Our order book has been remarkably stable over the past year following the drama of cancelled contracts during the global economic crisis.

We have recorded a slight increase in activity at the half-year, but it is our project pipeline that holds all the potential.

In Middle East we have submitted our first tender into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with our partner Saudi Oger and are positive about its outcome. In the meantime, we are in the final stages of preparing our joint tenders for the design and build of Jeddah Airport.

Apart from the recent nuclear bid and at a combined value of about R50 billion, this is the largest project we have tendered. We are also bidding for about R40 billion of work in Abu Dhabi.

Clough has grown its order book by more than R6 billion over the past six months and has captured a significant share of the Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) market in Australia. The company has made some key strategic acquisitions in the period, giving it a better platform from which to expand its business further.

The Cementation Group now functions as an integrated business, which has significantly improved its access to the global marketplace. Sharing of knowledge, resources and capability has helped secure projects in a number of locations ranging from Chile to Mongolia, Irian Jaya in Indonesia, Hong Kong and north of the Arctic Circle in Canada. This is a truly global business and its future market pipeline looks very promising.

In South Africa, the market remains muted, although we have a significant order book in the power sector and of course, we have to complete the Gautrain Project. Unfortunately we have been subjected to severe delays and disruption on these projects and are being forced to work hard to recover our contract and cash entitlements.

We are planning some organisational changes over the next few months as we streamline our statutory structures and improve line of sight between our group and operations. Our new executive leadership team is almost in place with just a few more changes to be made. We are preparing ourselves for an exciting period ahead, the worst of the recession behind us.

Please take note of the feature article in this edition of Robust. We have much work ahead of us.

Brian Bruce