{"id":841189,"date":"2025-10-28T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=841189"},"modified":"2025-10-28T12:00:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T10:00:23","slug":"end-of-an-era-for-123-year-old-company-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/841189\/end-of-an-era-for-123-year-old-company-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"End of an era for 123-year-old company in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Murray & Roberts Holdings has received a final liquidation order from the Gauteng High Court, marking the end of the road for the 123-year-old company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an update to shareholders, the group said that Theo van den Heever has been appointed as the provisional liquidator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the trading of the company’s shares on the JSE suspended since November 2024, shareholders will soon receive details on the proposed delisting ahead of the winding-up order.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this is the end for Murray & Roberts Holdings (MRH), it must be noted that its subsidiary, Murray & Roberts Limited (MRL), is unaffected and is proceeding with its business rescue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MRH and MRL are separate entities.\u00a0MRL is a downstream subsidiary of MRH with several intermediate entities in between. Notably, MRL is not associated with or affected by the MRH liquidation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MRL entered into business rescue on 22 November 2024. A key part of the business rescue plan is the sale of its operations to Differential Capital, which is acquiring MRL\u2019s subsidiary mining interests.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes the cementation businesses in Africa and the Americas, as well as TNT in the Americas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is this sale that ultimately led to the liquidation of MRH, as it removed any revenue-generating assets from the holding group, making it commercially insolvent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite MRH’s liquidation, MRL said its rescue progress remains firmly on track under the supervision of its appointed Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MRL said that the BRPs and Differential Capital continue to make progress towards the conclusion of definitive agreements and the fulfilment of suspensive conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, the Competition Commission approved the South African aspects of the proposed transaction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BRPs said ongoing business rescue proceedings represent the most sustainable and viable path forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Successful implementation is expected to protect around 2,800 jobs within the underlying businesses, particularly South African jobs in Cementation Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What went wrong <\/h2>\n\n\n
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Murray & Roberts\u2019 history dates back to 1902, when it operated as a house builder in the Cape Colony under the name Murray & Stewart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was listed on the JSE in 1951 and became Murray & Roberts after merging with Roberts Construction in 1967<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in April, MRH announced that it would be left commercially insolvent due to the ongoing business rescue proceedings at MRL. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2024, the group showed a loss before interest and tax of R646 million, up from just R2 million in the year ended June 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This loss was attributed to guarantees from MRL projects being called by clients to fund project completion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As MRH provided surety to the guarantee provider, the associated loss was reflected in the results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group\u2019s results also presented MRL\u2019s finances listed as discontinued operations, as it was in business rescue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MRL saw revenue of R4.6 billion and a loss before interest and tax of R960 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group reported an attributable loss of R1.4 billion, with a basic loss per share of 167 cents for continuing operations, and a loss per share of 414 cents when including discontinued operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group faced a major liquidity squeeze after De Beers descoped a large part of a contract with Murray & Roberts Cementation at its Ventia Mine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contact represented over 50% of the division\u2019s revenue. The group was also hurt by delays in <\/strong>procurement and project progress, especially at its subsidiary OptiPower’s projects in the renewable energy sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Murray and Roberts Holdings has received its final liquidation order, as subsidiary Murray and Roberts Limited continues its business rescue. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":841190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[23935],"class_list":["post-841189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-murray-and-roberts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841189"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":841202,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841189\/revisions\/841202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}