Pietermaritzburg-based aluminium giant Hulamin, which is currently on a growth trajectory, released its financial performance half-year results on Monday.
Despite a constrained domestic and global economic environment, Hulamin, which in recent months has seen a growth in revenue, is likely to post results showing a growth in profits.
An earlier company trading statement said interim earnings could more than double.
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One of Pietermaritzburg’s biggest employers, Hulamin, which in the past relied heavily on international customers, last year registered phenomenal growth in the domestic market.
Apart from supplying automobile products, including products that enable Wi-Fi connections on aeroplanes, the company also supplies producers of beverage cans.
In 2020 and 2021, Hulamin’s domestic market shrank due to, among other things, Covid-19 restrictions banning the sale of alcohol.
However, the lifting of the restrictions saw the company’s domestic market, particularly in the can producing sector, grow.
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Hulamin is now pursuing a strategy to grow its recycling business which will see it increase its market share in the domestic beverage can sector.
This as research shows that domestic demand of beverage cans will grow five percent annually for the next five years.
Internationally, Hulamin’s customers include electric car producer Tesla.
The Pietermaritzburg-based aluminium giant also supplies aluminium that is used to reduce the weight of electric vehicles.
Last year, the company’s long-serving CEO, Richard Jacob, resigned.
Jacob, who served Hulamin for 32 years, was the company’s CEO for 12 years.
Following Jacob’s retirement, the Hulamin board announced Geoff Watson as the company’s interim CEO.
Watson, who among other roles, was the CEO of Steelforce Australia, has been part of the Hulamin board since 2011.
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While the company has seen a surge in sales in recent months, its net profit margins have been lower.
In a recent interview with The Witness, Watson said the focus in the previous two years has been on
improving Hulamin’s product sales mix.
Global inflationary pressures, which saw the South African Reserve Bank hike the repo rate on multiple occasions, in recent years forced Hulamin to hold back on declaring its dividends.
Like many other companies in the sector, Hulamin, which has invested R20 million in power generation, is currently facing challenges related to load shedding.
However, with the growth of the renewable energy sector, the company is set to reap the benefits as there is now high demand for extruded aluminium components within the sector.
“Whether it is a giant solar farm covering tens of square kilometres or a domestic roof-mounted system aimed at taking a homeowner ‘off grid’, aluminium will be there,” the company said.
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