JSE-listed multidisciplinary construction group Stefanutti Stocks has reported an improvement in contract revenue to R7.1-billion for the 12 months ended February 29, up from R6.1-billion in the prior financial year.

The group also reported an improvement in operating profit from continuing operations from R101-million in the 2023 financial year to R210-million in the year under review.

Stefanutti CEO Russell Crawford said on May 23 that this placed the group’s overall cash position at R755-million as at February 29, up from R561-million a year prior.

With respect to the group’s restructuring plan, on March 27, the group reached an agreement with its lenders to extend the capital repayment profile of the loan as well as its duration to June 30, 2025. Since then, capital repayments of R176-million have been made, reducing the loan to R984-million.

“With respect to the Kusile power project, the group now expects that the dispute adjudication board will issue its binding decision during the third quarter,” Crawford said.

The disposal of Stefanutti Mozambique remains delayed, with the parties having extended the period for fulfilment or waiver of the conditions precedent to June 30.

The group’s results have been restated, owing to the reclassification of the Hyvec joint venture (JV), which was established to execute a contract awarded to Stefanutti Mozambique to build villas at a resort in Mauritius.

To accommodate the exclusion of the Hyvec JV, the original transaction agreements will be amended without impacting on the purchase consideration, the company revealed.

Stefanutti said earnings for total operations resulted in a profit of 9.5c a share, up from 8.72c a share the year before. Headline earnings a share, however, resulted in a loss of 55.73c a share, up from 38.73c a share the year before.

The group’s current order book is at R8.4-billion, compared with R7.4-billion the year before.

In terms of operations in the inland region, Stefanutti reported contract revenue increasing to R3.1-billion from R2.3-billion a year before and operating profit increasing to R194-million from R84-million, the bulk of which was attributed to civils work.

Currently, the inland region’s order book stands at R3.2-billion.

The coastal region’s contract revenue from operations decreased to R1.2-billion from R1.4-billion in the prior year. However, the operating profit rose significantly to R20-million from R5-million a year before.

The company said these results were negatively impacted on by late contract awards and delayed project starts.

The coastal region’s current order book is sitting at R2.1-billion.

In the Western Cape, contract revenue went up to R1.1-billion for the year, up from the previous year’s R702-million, with an operating profit of R37-million, a R7-million increase over 2023’s R30-million.

Stefanutti said all disciplines in the province continued to perform to expectation off a current order book of R1.4-billion.

Outside of South Africa, Stefanutti reported an African contract revenue of R1.6-billion for the year, which remains unchanged over last year.

However, the African region saw a reduced operating profit of R33-million, down from R75-million a year ago. According to Stefanutti, these results were impacted on by the Hyvec JV loss of R78-million. However, all other regions throughout Africa performed to expectation, the company said.

The order book in Africa is currently at R1.7-billion.