ABB South Africa has reported a 45% increase in revenue to R3,3 billion, and power and automation orders of R4,4 billion – up more than 50% – for 2008.
Carlos Pone, CEO of ABB South Africa, says rapid infrastructure development in power generation and transmission to support demand in mining, oil and gas and other sectors drove growth in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
“It has been an excellent year for ABB in South Africa,” he says. “Our broad portfolio of products and services in the power and automation divisions continue to sustain our growth.”
In 2008 ABB South Africa secured substantial power and transmission orders, including: a R149 million order for series capacitor banks at Serumula on the Beta-Delphi 400 kV transmission line and Iziko on the Hydra-Poseidon 400 kV transmission line; a R640 million contract from Matla power station as well as an order worth R520 million to strengthen the transmission network in the Western Cape region.
The automation business also performed well with more than R400 million in mining contracts and large orders for drive systems at Arcelor Mittal and Sappi. Other large orders included a R110 million contract from Sulzer for boiler feed pumps and a R40 million rectifier plant order from Anglo Platinum.
To accommodate its expansion the company has invested R400 million in new Gauteng premises at Longmeadow, Johannesburg. The modern manufacturing centre will be a green building incorporating solar heating, grey water and an automated building system to control all energy consuming equipment. Longmeadow will accommodate about 1000 employees.
Looking at the prospects for 2009, Pone says the demand in the electricity market remains high because of the renovation of South Africa’s national power infrastructure.
“However, with the current market conditions it is difficult to make near-term forecasts about growth and investments in the industrial sector,” he says.
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