The pursuit of large-scale transport infrastructure tenders will remain the primary focus of JSE-listed Protech Khuthele in the coming financial year, the company has said.

CEO Anthony Page told Engineering News that it would, independently or through joint ventures, pursue opportunities related to the refurbishment, rehabilitation and upgrading of transport infrastructure.

“While there has been a lot of talk around the general roll-out of government’s infrastructure programme in the past few years, this has not come to full fruition. We anticipate an uptake of this work in 2014, primarily on the back of the national elections and the need for job creation,” he commented.

The diversified infrastructure services group expected significant invitations to tender for projects in the road and rail sectors in 2014, particularly by parastatals, the South African National Roads Agency and Transnet.

“A few of the railway lines around the country need either refurbishment or doubling up to get the conventional traffic off the roads, which can’t maintain the current volumes. This is where we come in,” said Page.

While the decision to focus on transport infrastructure was not initially driven by recent volatility in the mining sector – the company’s other core market – he acknowledged that labour unrest had become a “concern” for the company and further supported its decision to increase participation in the public sector.

Further, the company expected good growth in its commercial and industrial division, which involved contracts for basement excavations and geotechnical work.

Last week, the group confirmed its return to profitability, reporting a strong turnaround in group operating profit before interest for the year ended February 28, to R46-million, from a R3.8-million loss in 2012.

It attributed its improved results to its Systemic Strategic Change and Turnaround Programme (SSCTP), which saw it move away from a culture of owner management to one of leadership by a professional core management team.

Page said this had a particularly positive impact on operational performance and practices within Protech.

“We have moved into the embedding and adapting phase of the SSCTP and are confident that we can further improve our profitability as we complete this phase of the turnaround,” he said.