The building and civil engineering market in Gauteng continues to soften, with Cape Town offering “huge opportunities”, says WBHO CEO Wolfgang Neff.

Announcing the construction giant’s financial results for the six months ended December 31, Neff confirmed anecdotal evidence of a partial economic shift to the south of the country.

There had been little work around for the JSE-listed group’s building and civil engineering division in Gauteng, apart from data centres, he noted, with limited opportunities in the pipeline to replace existing projects.

Cape Town, however, had a great amount of work on offer, with significant opportunities also still in the planning phases.

Neff said WBHO was moving some of its staff from its KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng teams to the Western Cape to be able to deal with demand.

“The traditional building market is currently really focused on Cape Town,” said Neff.

This included hotel and residential developments.

“In my view, this has a lot to do with semi-gration to Cape Town,” said Neff.

“Cape Town is also better run than Johannesburg. Johannesburg needs to get its ducks in a row and maybe the tide will turn and the investment will come back.”

CFO Andrew Logan added that the recent poor state of the economy also meant that there had been little retail-related construction work on offer in recent years, with hybrid working also stymieing demand for new office space.

WBHO on Wednesday reported a 10.2% increase in revenue, to R14.66-billion, for the period under review compared with the same six months in 2023.

Operating profit was up 18.1%, to R762-million.

South Africa was responsible for 72% of this number, the rest of Africa for 18%, and the UK at 10%.

The building and civil engineering business saw revenue increase by 8%, with operating profit up 14%.

Roads and earthworks had an exceptional six months, with revenue up 25%, and operating profit up 56%.

The UK business remained flat in terms of revenue and operating profit, as the British economy continued to struggle.

The consolidated order book was up 7%, at R32.64-billion, at the end of 2024 compared with the end of June last year.

The South African pipeline of WBHO-targeted projects likely to be awarded in the next 24 months remained strong, at R282-billion, while the UK market was likely to remain subdued, said Neff.

Roads, energy projects and data centres remained big business for the group.

Logan noted that growth at WBHO had started to moderate over the last 24 months as the group emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic, with some teams looking for work again.

Neff noted that this still meant that WBHO had to complete work of around R2.5-billion a month.