Iliad lifts earnings on Corpbuild deal
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Building materials supplier Iliad says headline earnings a share may be up 30% for its results for the year to December.
The growth in earnings followed the group buying building materials specialist Corpgro Industrial and Building Supplies (Corpbuild) as a going concern from Corpcapital for R254 million in the past year.
Iliad's deal to take over Corpbuild will see it take about 8% of SA's building materials market, which it estimates at about R23 billion.
In a statement published on the JSE Securities Exchange SA's (JSE's) electronic news service, Iliad said earnings would show a material increase for the year.
The building materials retailer said its shareholders needed to demonstrate caution in trading its shares as its results had not been reviewed and reported on by its auditors.
Iliad, along with its rivals Cashbuild and Italtile, has been enjoying a growth spurt over the past few years with homeowners not being shy to spend money on sprucing up their homes.
Iliad's takeover of Corpbuild showed further consolidation in the building material market following Massmart's acquisition of Tile Warehouse and Builders Warehouse in the past year.
While consolidation is taking place and the market is highly competitive, retail analysts are not too concerned because the market is growing quickly and all these companies are focused on different sectors.
Industry players have also been quick to point out that besides the growth in construction brought about by five interest rate cuts last year, there was about R3 trillion worth of building stock in the country that needs to be maintained.
Iliad is expected to release its results in March.
The company's share price closed up 5c to R5,20 with 434151 shares traded in 182 deals on the JSE on Friday.
Profile Group (Pty) Ltd. has taken care in preparing all information on this website, but does not accept any liability for errors or out-of-date information.
