Cash break-even

The capacity utilisation at which gross profit covers operating costs and full debt service. Calculated separately for each year against that year’s own cost base rather than on a single mature-year threshold.

Capacity slot

One stock-brick-equivalent unit of machine capacity. Because the press produces 900 000 stock bricks or 140 000 M140 blocks a month, one block consumes 6.43 slots — the basis on which product margins should be compared.

Cure

The controlled period, typically 24 to 48 hours on racks followed by a seven-day yard stand, during which a masonry unit gains compressive strength before it can be sold.

Development finance institution

The IDC, NEF or SEDFA. Assesses development impact — jobs, transformation, localisation — alongside financial return, and prices and structures more accommodatingly than a commercial bank for a greenfield ramp.

Dry mix

The controlled cement, aggregate and water blend fed to the press. Cement is 43% of its cost, which is why dosage discipline determines margin.

Maxi brick

A 222 x 90 x 114 mm unit used for faster-build residential walling, requiring fewer units and less mortar per square metre than stock bricks.

M140 and M190 hollow block

390 mm long blocks, 140 mm and 190 mm wide, used for infill and load-bearing structural walling respectively. Specified by engineers rather than chosen by contractors.

NHBRC

The National Home Builders Registration Council. Registered residential developers are bound by specification and cannot use uncertified masonry, which defines the segment this plan targets.

SANS 1215

The South African National Standard for precast concrete masonry units, setting compressive strength requirements. Batch certification against it is the basis of the specified-supplier position.

Section 20 limitation

The South African rule capping the set-off of assessed losses at the higher of R1 million or 80% of taxable income. It does not bite here because both the Year 1 loss and the subsequent profits sit below the R1 million floor.

Stock brick

A 222 x 106 x 73 mm, 7 MPa unit for general plaster-finished walling. The market’s default product: 67% of output at the lowest margin in the range.

Value-to-weight ratio

The economic constraint that defines this business. A truckload of masonry weighs upward of thirty tonnes and is worth a few tens of thousands of rand, so beyond roughly 100 to 120 kilometres a closer competitor always wins on landed price.