THE resignation of Cyril Ramaphosa from the board of Rebserve finally puts an end to his association with Molope, the services group of which he was once chairman.

Ramaphosa joined the board of Rebserve when it was still known as Rebhold after it acquired Molope in 1999 for R300m.

Ramaphosa was behind the sale, as he saw it as the only way to save Molope, which had subsequently seen legal action taken against its former CEO, Anthony Bock, on a R23m fraud charge.

Ramaphosa stepped down as executive deputy chairman, having completing a three-year service contract.

Rebserve lifted turnover 10% to R1,56bn and saw net profit rise 7% to R107m in its half year results to December.

The services group said despite a stable economy, trading conditions remained difficult.

Rebserve said it was still waiting for a decision from Transnet on whether one of its divisions, Propnet, could start a facilities management joint venture with Rebserve. Propnet announced Rebserve as its preferred bidder for the venture in October.

Rebserve said it was confident in its ability to grow its existing operations. It said getting earnings growth above its current level would depend on whether it could win new facilities management and outsourcing contracts.

Rebserve's share price ended unchanged on the JSE Securities Exchange SA at R6,25.