e-spaces

By Florence de Vries

Building materials retailer Cashbuild’s dominant footprint in markets with lower household income and rural cash-based areas have proven an effective strategy.

Retail analysts said it was the group’s positioning in the market that had led to its 10 percent increase in operating profit to R251.3 million for the year to June.

“Cashbuild is also an extremely well managed business, with a simple and clearly defined strategy to reliably provide its well understood customer base what they want at reasonable pricing levels, thus a combination of market positioning and good execution have contributed to the results,” said Vanessa van Vuuren, an equity analyst at Sanlam Investment Management.

Cashbuild posted an increase of 10 percent in its full-year headline earnings and said it was optimistic about trading prospects for the next quarter. It issued a dividend of R2.46 a share. Cash and cash equivalents fell by 9 percent to R348m. Revenue increased by 25 percent to R5.065 billion.