Grindrod earnings rise 22%

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.