The York Timber Organisation Ltd (Yorkcor) has reported a 24% growth in profits during the first six months of the year.
The South African forest products group said that its profit from operations rose to R19.7m, with revenue up by 52% to R247m and earnings per share increasing by 71% year-on-year to 148.8 cents.
Organic growth and a number of acquistions, including Global Forest Products and the Goedgeloof plantation, helped the company maintain “steady volumes” and improve milling efficiences, with Yorkcor adding that it “may consider additional plantation acquisitions to further reduce its reliance on external saw log supplies”.
Yorkcor chief executive officer Lance Cooper said that the company was looking to continue its positive results into the second half of the year.
“The market in the second half is bouyant and stock levels are starting to reduce as a result of the normal cyclical demand,” said Mr Cooper. “With such positive prospects for the second half of the year, we expect to maintain our current growth rate.”
Mr Cooper added that the results for the first six months of the year were “robust” despite higher saw log prices and a decline in demand for lumber.
