Johannesburg - Stefanutti Stocks is to defend the R561.57 million civil damages claim lodged by the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) against the listed construction group, as well as Murray & Roberts (M&R) and its subsidiary Concor and WBHO on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP).
Stefanutti chief executive Willie Meyburgh said yesterday that the group did not accept it was responsible “in any way” for any harm allegedly suffered by Sanral.
Meyburgh said it was confident of defending this case because the group was not involved in the construction of the GFIP.
This is the first time Stefanutti Stocks has commented on Sanral, after the agency last month said it had served civil damages claims with a total value of between R600m and R760m against seven JSE-listed construction firms and joint ventures who admitted to colluding on its tenders.
The summonses, which relate to various projects, were served on WBHO; Murray & Roberts; Concor, which merged with M&R in 2006; Group Five; Basil Read; Raubex; and Stefanutti Stocks.
M&R, Basil Read, Group Five and Raubex previously confirmed they would defend the claims.
The seven companies were among those that admitted to collusion and rigging bids on Sanral tenders in settlement agreements reached with the Competition Commission in 2013.
In terms of Stefanutti Stocks’ settlement agreement, the group admitted it had reached agreement with WBHO in 2006 on the GFIP in terms of which Stefanutti, Concor and WBHO agreed to allocate the various GFIP packages among themselves and to exchange cover prices to give effect to the allocation arrangements.
Stefanutti Stocks has also been cited as one of the respondents in the “World Cup Stadia Meeting” case referral by the Competition Commission to the Competition Tribunal, and a civil damages claim initiated by the City of Cape Town related to the Green Point Stadium.
Meyburgh said the group achieved a reasonable financial performance in the year to February in the current market environment and all the business units were profitable. But he said discontinued operations had affected the group’s overall results negatively, as did delayed payment by clients and rightsizing and aligning the group for the work available in the market.
Meyburgh said it had reduced the head count in the structures division by 40 percent in the past year at a cost of more than R20m, with total head count reductions costing the group almost R40m.
Although public sector departments in South Africa, Zambia, Nigeria and Mozambique made regular payments, they were not up to date with their accounts and owed the group in excess of R350m.
Antonio Cocciante, the financial director, said resolving the final disputes related to the discontinuation of the power business cost almost R30m and it had written off R49m in exiting its 49 percent investment in Zener Steward in Dubai. This had negatively impacted the group’s profit for the year.
Group revenue dropped by 9 percent to R9.7 billion from R10.6bn. Operating profit improved by 17 percent to R391.96m from R335.38m. Headline earnings a share declined by 6 percent to 138.16c from 146.83c. A dividend was not declared. Shares in Stefanutti Stocks were unchanged yesterday at R4.10.
BUSINESS REPORT