SHARES in the construction sector have soared over the past two months, buoyed by foreign investor optimism on the prospects for SA’s infrastructure development.

The stock of construction group Murray & Roberts has recently tested the R20 level, which could signal the return of the group to giant status

Concor has reported a 56% rise in its headline earnings per share for the year to end-June 2005 to 226.7 cents from a re-stated 145.4 cents a year earlier

South Africa's construction economy, which has been in retreat for three decades, is on the cusp of a new cycle of multidecade growth.

Construction industry heavyweights Aveng as well as Murray & Roberts are expected to report a 'tough' financial year to June in the next few weeks

Spearhead Property Holdings have come close to the R1 billion asset barrier and tied up one of the largest Cape Town CBD property deals this year by buying the 14 storey Pier Place building on the Cape Town Foreshore

Major capex projects to be good for listed companies

The race is now on between Murray & Roberts and Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon to conquer smaller rival Concor

AVENG, SA's largest construction group, warned yesterday that if government failed to award the construction contract for the Gautrain high-speed rail link by next month, it would be "very difficult" to meet the 2010 deadline it has set.

Order books of construction contractors could become useless as a measure of business health in this sector with the apparent rise in the number of contracts gone wrong.