Johannesburg - Shares of Grindrod [JSE:GND] rose more than 2% after
the shipping firm posted a 22% rise in full-year earnings, beating market
expectations.
Grindrod said headline earnings per share for the 12 months
to the end of December rise 22% to 121.9 cents, boosted by growth in the
company's freight services and financial services divisions.
That surpassed the average estimate of 108c per share in a
Thomson Reuters poll of analysts.
The group will invest in rail through increasing the
locomotive manufacturing capacity and investments in rail technology and
concession businesses; and partner with Vitol‚ one of the world’s larger energy
trading businesses‚ in a number of Grindrod’s coal and fuel related businesses
to increase access to global markets‚ the company said in a statement.
“These initiatives‚ along with a number of others‚ are
positioning the group for further growth‚” it said.
The company's shares rose 2.88% to R17.49, compared with a
flat JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index.
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