Johannesburg - A five-year, R250m per year oil pipeline contract in Angola is starting to bear fruit for AltX-listed pipe distributor and fluid conveyance specialist Rare Holdings.

Rare's Angolan operation - in existence since 2003 - made its first positive contribution since the group listed in February 2007.

These operations comprised R62m, or 17%, of revenue for the six months to end-December 2008. Overall revenue increased by 66% to R362.4m while gross profit grew by the same percentage to R93.2m.

Rare's contract is to supply, operate and maintain oil rigs in Angola for the Cabinda Gulf Oil Company, a joint venture between US group Chevron and Angolan state-owned oil company Sonangol. The arrangement is an example of Angolanisation, that country's equivalent of SA's black economic empowerment.

"We are supplying anything from gloves needed by workers to equipment needed on rigs - including nuts, bolts and screws," CEO David Scheepers told Fin24.com.

The Rare Group has been trading in Angola since 2003. It created a more permanent presence through the formation of Rare Angola, owned 61% by the Rare Group and 39% by a consortium of local established companies.

Scheepers said that the Cabinda contract has been six years in the making: "The bid went out to invited participants in 2002. The rigorous qualifying process took three years and we put in our final offer in 2006. We were the most successful vendor." The contract was signed in 2007.

"What's awesome is that this is the single largest contract of its kind in Angola," he said.

"All the details were finalised in the second quarter of 2008 and the first orders only started to flow through in the third quarter of 2008," he said.

Despite the global slowdown, Scheepers said that "good opportunities" still emanate from high-value infrastructure projects in South Africa and in neighbouring countries, particularly Angola.

Rare also reported a 93% increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to R30.8m. Earnings per share grew 40% to 14.3c; with the effect of asset write-offs worth R963000, headline earnings per share increased 51% to 15.3c.