Transnet capex hits record but H1 profit down

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa's state-run logistics group Transnet, said on Wednesday it spent 18.7 billion rand ($1.72 billion) in the six months to September, a record for capital expenditure, on upgrading its rail lines and other infrastructure.

Transnet said its total expenditure over the past three years was now 77.9 billion rand, with a major focus in the six months under review on investment in locomotives to be used on the export coal line and for general freight.

The company said it spent 6.3 billion rand during the period on locomotives.

But the group's profit for the six months fell 25 percent to just over 2.1 billion rand in the face of rising finance costs and impairments.

The group is three years into a seven-year, 312.2 billion rand investment programme, a third of which will be funded from the markets, with the bulk raised from the company's operations.

(1 US dollar = 10.8465 South African rand)