Johannesburg — ELECTRICAL wholesaler ARB Holdings, which made a sterling debut on the JSE's AltX yesterday, is eyeing expansion nationally and elsewhere in Africa and targeting new clients in the mining sector.

The group's listing could not have come at a better time, with recent commitments by the government and the World Bank to electrify millions of homes over the next 10 years.

After listing strongly at R5,65, above the R5,10 private placement price, the share fell to close at R5.

ARB chairman and founder Alan Burke said the listing had already elevated the company's profile, which, together with the R179m new capital raised, should facilitate ARB's further expansion nationally and into sub-Saharan Africa.

The group's shares were oversubscribed, with R370m raised in prelisting private placement.

ARB offers a range of products including power and instrumentation cabling, conductors, overhead line hardware, insulators, transformers and general electrical contracting materials.

Clients include major construction companies, parastatals and electrical contractors.

The group projects headline earnings to increase to R101,4m in the year to June next year from R84,2m previously, when they had almost doubled from R44,3m.

CE Craig Robertson said: "We plan to roll out more branches nationally and strengthen our presence specifically in Gauteng, to broaden our exposure to the lucrative market and serve as springboard into neighbouring regions."

He said expansion could be achieved organically and through acquisitions.

The group planned to leverage its expertise in supplying rural infrastructure expansion to capture markets across the border.