Afrimat Shows Its Metal
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TO SUBSCRIBE TO CAPE BUSINESS NEWS ISSN 1028-1215 SMS Subscribe to 31013 FOUNDED 1980 SA: R15.00 (Incl. VAT) JULY 2018 Going green Port congestion Treat contaminated water A million m2 4 10 Sewer Guard to 25 celebrated. Cape Town get serious. the rescue. Afrimat shows its metal Rally to read URBANVILLE-based building supplies company Afrimat – which Dcarved its reputation on supplying aggregates countrywide – is making bold moves in the mining sector. The perennially profitable Afrimat has also built a reputation for smart deal-mak- OW would you spend R35 000? ing with highly regarded CEO Andries van A deposit on a new car? A smart Heerden able to spot well-priced oppor- HTV? A couple of days in a luxury tunities – including acquiring distressed game reserve? companies and turning these around in What about this as an alternative: a convincing fashion. These would include weekend away that could change the sizeable acquisitions like aggregates and lives not only of you and your family or industrial minerals business Infrasors and colleagues, but also those of hundreds of the Glen Douglas dolomite quarry in re- children? cent years. In weekends in September and Most recently, Afrimat has made a bold October this year, hundreds of people will move into the iron ore sector, and early join Rally To Read in delivering hope to indications are that this new – and largely South Africa’s forgotten children - those unexpected - thrust is extremely promising. living in far-flung rural areas where edu- The move makes sense with the local cation budgets almost never reach. mining sector in the doldrums due to a We take plenty for granted in the combination of high production costs, low schools our own children attend: books, commodity prices, slack demand and mud- noted that all processing equipment had stationery, desks, electricity, running dled government policy. With a number of been commissioned, together with the water and sanitation. Imagine your fury mining businesses up for sale, Afrimat is commissioning of a new load out facility if there were none of these and your chil- able to scout for bargains. which enabled Afrimat to load trains on dren spent all day, every day, staring out The first big move has come with Af- the Sishen-Saldanha railway line. of windows, unable to learn. rimat acquiring initially a 60% stake in Most encouragingly, Van Heerden said Since 1998, Rally To Read has trans- Demaneng from Diro Resources and then at a recent investment presentation that formed the future for rural children by following through on an agreement to ac- Demaneng’s margins were similar or better providing their schools with educational quire the remaining 40% shareholding in than Afrimat’s current mining and aggre- materials and teacher training. the business. gates businesses. A R35 000 sponsorship package pro- Before Afrimat stepped in Demaneng’s Hitches at Transnet were an issue, Van vides a school with portable classroom operations were halted as a result of the Heerden conceded, but plans were under- libraries, stationery and teacher training. operations being under financial distress way to find alternatives to accelerate sales. It also provides the donor with the experi- and placed into formal business rescue on While Demaneng comes on stream, it ence of a lifetime. in mid-June 2016. is heartening to note that Afrimat is still How do weekends work? A traditional New look Afrimat Demaneng subse- performing stoutly with the year to end rally starts at an unearthly hour on Satur- quently filed a “notice of substantial imple- February financial report showing mineral day mornings, to load libraries and other mentation” of its business rescue plan with producing operations across all regions as materials on the backs of vehicles. Then, the Companies and Intellectual Property well as the core Western Cape aggregates after breakfast, it’s off to schools. Commission - confirming that it exited business delivering solid results. The KwaZulu-Natal rally, sponsored business rescue in mid-August last year. Van Heerden said Afrimat’s product by Shell, is an experimental, one-day The iron ore mine has since commenced range was well diversified to include con- concept, beginning and ending on Sat- with operations and the mining and deliv- struction materials – such as aggregates If Afrimat can work its magic at urday. Transport group OneLogix, which ery of iron ore. and concrete based products - and indus- Demaneng then bottom line in the 2019 fi- has hosted the Free State rally for early Van Heerden said that as a direct result trial minerals such as limestone, dolomite nancial year could be well reinforced. 20 years (originally as United Bulk), will of much improved commodity prices, it and silica as well as the latest bulk com- It’s worthwhile noting that Afrimat’s ac- do so again this year on September 8-9. was decided to accelerate the ramp-up of modities offering via the iron acquisition. quisition of Vredenburg-based Cape Lime Mercedes-Benz SA, another long-stand- Demaneng. Looking ahead, Van Heerden said Afri- in early 2016 appears to be already paying ing Rally To Read supporter, will do the He said expenses relating to the ramp-up mat was well positioned to capitalise on its off. Van Heerden said Cape Lime’s inte- same for the Eastern Cape on September increased substantially in line with the ac- strategic initiatives and expected contin- gration was progressing well and exciting 15-16. The Western Cape rally will take celerated production. ued growth as well as further expansion of new marketing initiatives were under way place on October 27-28. But the mine reached its design produc- its range of products. to find additional markets for its products. For more information, and to learn how tion capacity of 1 million tons per annum He also expected turnaround initiatives The business already accounts for a chunky to become a sponsor, go to rallytoread. at the end of February 2018. Van Heerden at selective acquisitions to deliver. 7% of Afrimat’s operating profits. co.za. We extended our range of stainless steel Torx drive screws best service | competitive price | high stock availability Stainless steel Torx Drive screws 2 CBN July 2018 IN THIS ISSUE Rapid learning curve 9 Freight Forwarding DURBANVILLE- tion of existing facilities. BASED Stadio Hold- “A further key strat- ings, the fledgling egy is to promote the 10 Maritime tertiary education com- growth of our existing pany, has put down a brands like Embury, 16 Power Solutions huge marker it its efforts AFDA, SBS, LISOF to create a sizeable ‘pri- and Milpark by expand- vate university’ in Cape ing distance learning 19 Materials Handling Town. offerings across brands, Last month Stadio geographic expansion – which is controlled through rolling out the 21 PPE by Stellenbosch-based brands to new loca- investment company tions and to accrediting 25 Water Engineering PSG Group – an- further undergradu- nounced plan to develop ate and post-graduate a new and comprehen- degrees, diplomas and 26 Plant & Equipment sive campus at Phesan- higher certificate quali- tekraal in Durbanville fications across various after finalising the brands.” 28 Warehousing & Storage acquisition of a sprawl- Van der Merwe ex- ing site of 7,8 hectares. plained this thrust Management Although the West- courses on one campus. tekraal campus develop- sition targets for 2017 would be supplemented ern Cape is served by Stadio hopes to emulate ment coincided with the were fully met - and by investing in focussed 29 Safety & Security tertiary institutions – Curro’s success in pitch- accreditation of Stadio’s keeping in mind that marketing across the including three large ing affordable and high first doctoral degree there is also an intake various brands and universities in form of quality private educa- in Business Adminis- at the beginning of the products of the Stadio 30 Electrical Stellenbosch University, tion to the tertiary seg- tration (DBA) with a second semester of 2018 group, and to expand the University of Cape ment. further two doctoral - Stadio had the poten- into Greenfield oppor- Town and UWC – Sta- The Phesantekraal degrees in the offing. tial to reach 30 000 stu- tunities as in the case 32 On the Contrary dio believes a good num- development is Stadio’s Van der Merwe said dents in 2018. of the Phesantekraal ber of school leavers are first large greenfield that the ultimate vision Stadio’s prelisting campus. 32 The Other Side of the often denied access to investment in its quest to of Stadio was to create a statement set a target He added that plans higher learning because establish a multiversity. multiversity for 100 000 of 56 000 students for were already afoot to Coin of affordability issues or Van der Merwe said students. “We believe 2026. explore opportunities academic criteria. the aim was to start that there is ample room Van der Merwe has to expand programme While the term with the Phesantekraal for expansion as 100 000 proved with his success offerings to include engi- ‘private university’ is development by March students will only be 5% at rapidly rolling out neering as well as medi- frowned upon at this 2019 and to have the of the total higher edu- Curro’s school network cal and health sciences. juncture, Stadio – headed campus up and running cation market in South that a well-constructed “Our intent is to offer by Chris van der Merwe, by February 2021. CBN Africa.” private education pitch a product range similar CAPE BUSINESS the prime mover behind believes the total cost of When Stadio listed can quickly gain trac- to that of the country’s fast growing private development could be on JSE in October last tion.