Buoyant Grindrod seeks further acquisitions

Terry Hutson DURBAN-BASED shipping and logistic group Grindrod completed another successful year with increased earnings of R127,9 million, which is an improvement of more than 71% on last year. This is more than two years in a row of sustained profits, leaving managing director Ivan Clark confident of continued real growth in earnings during 2002. "While lower world trade has seen some shipping markets decline we have managed to reduce our exposure to the cyclical nature of this sector by spreading our investments in different shipping and logistic markets, as well as making provision for known and expected charter losses," he said. The spreading of investments included the acquisition of Inchcape Shipping Services (now ISS-Voigt Shipping) and Ellerman & Bucknall during the year, both of which performed satisfactorily. In addition the buoyant Unicorn Lines division has extended its operations to include Angola. Clark indicated that the group's freight management activities, including Unicorn Lines' sea-freight logistics business, is likely to expand further as acquisitions and partnership opportunities are found.