By all accounts, FloorworX Africa's cash position is solid. The firm may be dominant, with a two-thirds market share in the flooring business, but MD Donald Platt isn't sitting on his laurels.
The foreign-trained Platt, with a PhD in management, has held many posts in different sectors, including industrial gas.
In SA, FloorworX is a household name and are cashing in on the construction boom. Its reputation and market leadership position here help put the company in a competitive elsewhere position on the continent. Already, it exports to various destinations, including Botswana and Namibia.
"We've picked up a contract for flooring and accessories in Nigeria at a large hospital just outside Lagos. A Nigerian architect recommended us after we did work at (Soweto's Chris Hani) Baragwanath Hospital. Our reputation speaks for itself," says the bullish Platt.
Last year, the company won a lucrative flooring contract for Baragwanath, marking another step in the firm's government-sector road map. Other major contracts in the healthcare industry include those for King George V and 1 Military hospitals. The group has also done some work for Wits University.
The firm has also scored tenders in facilities like police stations, schools and sports stadia. The train and bus businesses, says Platt, are also coming on stream as the country gears up for Gautrain and the 2010 soccer World Cup.
But he is cognisant of the fact that the soccer event will come and go and he has broader horizons.
"The year 2010 isn't the end. There is a backlog in South African schools and clinics. Government is far behind in infrastructure rollout and underspending has been a major challenge.
"It may take another 20 years for it to catch up," Platt says.
Being in the Accéntuate stable "will open more doors for us", he says. "The space we're in right now is exciting. The move by Marley to be part of Accéntuate has proved to be a good one. It's profitable and we've grown and now are up there with international players."
FloorworX is already capitalising from its association with Thebe Investments, Accéntuate's investor. Thebe's links on the continent should help the Accéntuate stable penetrate this largely untapped market.
Platt has just returned from a long visit to Angola and other African countries where FloorworX and other Accéntuate subsidiaries are looking for business opportunities.
"Angola has its challenges. It's a difficult place in which to work as the infrastructure isn't up to scratch," says Platt. "Eight Angolan hospitals are talking to us and the chemicals business is piggybacking on it."
Turning to the infrastructure boom in SA, Platt says: "Every new building that goes up is a business opportunity for us. We may not be in the foyer, but we are perhaps in the back office or elsewhere. When you see an office block in Sandton, that's our business."
Apart from maintaining the unit's reputation by delivering quality products, it focuses on building a sustainable skills base. For this reason, the flooring entity improves the skills of 150 people a year.
"There are several competitors, but no one presents a total package like we do. People (clients) come back to us all the time because we have a record that speaks for itself. Reputation speaks volumes in this industry. We're tried and tested."
FloorworX, which was until recently known as Marley Flooring, was bought by Accéntuate in 2004. In the year ended June 2007, the flooring business generated the bulk of parent company's profit and revenue, while the chemicals unit took pain from high input costs.
Platt was head-hunted to Marley SA and later assumed a post as sales and marketing director in the operation in 1998.
From humble beginnings in SA in 1953, the company now has a workforce of 200, of which 180 are at its 26 000m2 East London factory, the centralised depot it has today. It has 35 representatives in different locations.
As his 55-year-old unit expands locally as well as elsewhere in Africa, Platt gladly points out that "capacity is not an issue".
