Mining pick-up spurs Barloworld to 14% interim earnings gain

IMPROVED mining activity lifted sales of heavy equipment for Barloworld, a dealer for Caterpillar, which was behind a 14% increase in interim earnings, said Reuters in a report.

The biggest revenue increase came from its equipment businesses in Southern Africa, its biggest market, led by mining machine sales in South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia, said Reuters which cited a company announcement. An equipment business in Russia also continued to benefit from greenfield and brownfield mining projects, the newswire said.

“The improving global economy and current favourable commodity prices have resulted in improved mining output in our region,” Barloworld CEO, Dominic Sewela, said in a statement. “This has increased demand from both mining companies and contract miners for replacement machines and to a lesser extent machines for expansion projects.”