Durban - Santova Logistics, a supply chain management business, is scouting for warehouses to plug the last gap in its business model.
Following the acquisition last year of Impson Freight, a far larger business, Santova now has the muscle to do such a deal.
It bought Impson through the issue of 428.4 million new shares at 10c each. The share price has since risen and yesterday it was up 1c to 16c.
Glen Gerber, the company's chief executive, said yesterday: "We are going to be making an acquisition on warehouses we were never able to do before, we would not buy warehouses and then look for customers. We now have the customers."
Santova's new model appears to be paying off. Its clients now include several JSE-listed retailers.
Of the 40 000 containers it manages a year, about 60 percent are imports from China into South Africa or the UK.
The business now includes clearing, forwarding, marine insurance, facilitating trade finance through financial institutions, and warehousing which is outsourced.
In the 14 months to February this year, the company reported a R4 million attributable profit from R1.4 million.
The numbers are not comparable, due to the inclusion of Impson for eight months of the reporting period and a change in year-end.
Gerber said that with Impson Freight's contribution, billings were expected to increase to R2 billion for the year to next February. In the 14 months to February this year, billings stood at R1.4 billion from R552 million.
Billings, which include total disbursements such as value-added tax, duties and freight rates, are an indication of activity levels.
For the three months to February, shipments have increased 239 percent to 8 500. Santova is still trailing market leaders, which are UTI, Expeditors, Kintetsu and Kuehne & Nagel.