MASTER Drilling is set to report a strong rebound in interim earnings even against its performance in the six months ended June 2019 before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Johannesburg-listed drilling company said in a trading statement Wednesday interim share earnings would be between 94,70 and 100 South African cents.
This represents an improvement of between 77,6% and 87,6% on its 2020 interim numbers and 23.5% to 30.4% better than its performance in 2019 when it reported interim share earnings of 76,67 South African cents.
Interim share earnings in US dollar terms would be between 6.50 and 6.90 cents which is between 104,4% and 114,4% higher than the share earnings in the comparative period as reported in US dollars.
“Having made significant investments in our fleet, technology, and geographical diversification over the past couple of years, we are now positioned to capitalise on the predicted bull run without requiring additional capital investment,” said Master Drilling CEO, Danie Pretorius at the time.
It said at the time that it hoped to secure a further set of raise-bore contracts at Northam Platinum’s Zondereinde mine as it expands into relatively shallow ground.
It was also in line for an order from Anglo American Platinum to deploy the innovative mobile tunnel boring machine at its Mogalakwena mine, possibly in the second quarter of 2021.
