Dear Readers
The reporting season is upon us again,
its timing as regular as clockwork but its
outcome more variable, like the weather.
And this year it is the consequence
of the global economic crisis that has
introduced extreme variability into our lives
and business.
Murray & Roberts has a resilient business
model which relies on diversity across
many dimensions to ensure sustainability
of performance. So despite the economic
crisis and recession in our markets, the
Group has delivered another credible
performance in the financial year to
30 June 2009. But there has been a cost.
We have shed about 7 000 jobs since
November last year and our revenues are
down by about R4,0 billion compared to
our original budget prepared in April 2008.
We lost or walked away from about
R20 billion of order book in the four
months between November last year and
March this year. Our operational leadership
teams have been exemplary in their
engagement of this challenge and we have
not suffered any financial consequence as
a result.
This is proof that when we appoint
executives who know, are committed to
and then focus on what has to be done,
it will be done. It is the confusion and
uncertainty that comes with inadequate
experience that cripples performance.
In this edition of Robust we introduce
our new commitment to the future
sustainable performance of our Group,
in a changed world severely damaged
by an economic crisis brought about by
unsustainable behaviour.
We call it Reframing Murray & Roberts
– Same Picture Different Context. We are
bringing new executive leadership into the
top of the organisation to complement
the capacity we already have serving the
market sector we know best – engineering
and construction.
We will be consolidating our operations
into six large business clusters, three of
which will be focused on our domestic
and regional market and three focused on
global and international markets. We will
have more about this in the next edition
of Robust.
Brian Bruce |