Johannesburg — WHILE many sectors of the economy are choking on high inflation , construction companies are powering ahead, underpinned by the government's multi billion-rand infrastructure expansion programme .

A surge of 144% in the order book of SA's largest construction firm, Murray and Roberts, to R55bn shows good times for the notoriously cyclical sector. The group bagged a significant chunk of new government projects, notably R20bn worth of contracts for new power stations.

Its share price rose more than 6% yesterday on the release of robust results, which reflected a rise of 63% in operating profit to R2,4bn on revenue of R27,9bn.