SOUTHERN Africa transport corridor group Grindrod’s Port and Terminals operations handled record mineral volumes in the year to December 31 due to the economic recovery and global demand for commodities.
Headline earnings for core businesses increased 166 percent to R886 million due also to a strong performance from the coastal shipping and container depot business.
Grindrod Bank performed well - it continued to focus on quality lending and maintaining healthy capital and liquidity ratios.
Port and terminals lifted earnings growth by 70 percent compared with 2020, comfortably surpassing its pre-Covid-19 performance level, the group said yesterday.
The coastal shipping and container depot business grew its earnings by 33 percent, with the remaining businesses delivering consistent performance for the period.
The cessation of Grindrod's activities at the liquefied natural gas project in northern Mozambique, due to the insurgency in Cabo Delgado province, had been mitigated by the resumption of the graphite logistics business in Nacala.
Grindrod Bank’s earnings improved 157 percent despite remaining cautious in its lending activities and retaining surplus liquidity of more than R5bn.
The bank concluded an agreement with Shoprite Checkers as a new platform partner and recommenced the project to raise further capital to enable growth and enhance returns.
The disposal of the car carrier business was complete and the sale of the fuel carrier businesses had progressed.
This process necessitated the impairment of goodwill and assets of R266.6m.
The Grindrod Shipping shares were sold, generating R338.1m. A fair value gain of R238.2m was recorded.
Group revenue was up 9 percent to R5.17 billion. Profit attributable to ordinary shareholders was up 64 percent to R540.46m.
The private equity portfolio now consisted of only two significant investments. The disposal of the offshore real estate investment was concluded in November 2021 for £17.4m. The strategy was to exit the remaining two investments at the right valuations.
The group reported a profit of R175.6m against a loss of R415.2m in the prior period. A final gross ordinary dividend of 20.1 cents per share (2020:0) was declared.
In November 2021, Grindrod announced a joint venture with Maersk, wherein the logistics activities of Grindrod’s Intermodal business would complement the current Maersk operations, the execution of which was subject to various conditions.
The clearing and forwarding business delivered solid results and secured the extension of key customer contracts during the year.
BUSINESS REPORT