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Johannesburg - Construction company Group Five [JSE:GBF] fell short of market expectations with a 44% drop in full-year profit on Monday, as it continues to struggle with an industry-wide slump.
The country's fifth-biggest builder said diluted headline earnings per share totalled 315c in the year to end-June compared with 561c a year earlier.
A Reuters poll of 11 analysts had expected headline EPS - the main profit measure in South Africa that strips out certain one-off items - to come in at 386.3c.
South Africa's construction industry, which avoided the worst of the global economic crisis because of big projects for the soccer World Cup, is now having difficulty recovering as the government and private sector hold back on spending.
Revenue dropped by nearly 19% to R9.2bn. Group Five, which also operates in the Middle East and eastern Europe, said it had been increasing its business on the African continent, specifically in power, energy and mining construction projects.
The company said its construction order book totalled R8.8bn, compared with 9.2 bln rand in 2010.
Shares in Group Five have fallen more than 20% so far this year, under-performing a 10% decline in the All Share [JSE:J203] index.
The country's fifth-biggest builder said diluted headline earnings per share totalled 315c in the year to end-June compared with 561c a year earlier.
A Reuters poll of 11 analysts had expected headline EPS - the main profit measure in South Africa that strips out certain one-off items - to come in at 386.3c.
South Africa's construction industry, which avoided the worst of the global economic crisis because of big projects for the soccer World Cup, is now having difficulty recovering as the government and private sector hold back on spending.
Revenue dropped by nearly 19% to R9.2bn. Group Five, which also operates in the Middle East and eastern Europe, said it had been increasing its business on the African continent, specifically in power, energy and mining construction projects.
The company said its construction order book totalled R8.8bn, compared with 9.2 bln rand in 2010.
Shares in Group Five have fallen more than 20% so far this year, under-performing a 10% decline in the All Share [JSE:J203] index.
