Company: Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon
Country: South Africa
Sector: Engineering & Construction
CEO: Wolfgang Neff (Group Chief Executive Officer)
Website: https://www.wbho.co.za
Careers Page: Not publicly listed
LinkedIn: Not publicly listed
Email: Not publicly listed
Headquarters: Sandton, Gauteng, South Africa
Founded: 1970
Valuation/Revenue: $1.535bn revenue and $697.3m market value (African Business Top 250, 2025 ranking, rank 103)
Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon, known as WBHO, is South Africa’s largest construction company, active in building construction, civil engineering, roads and earthworks. Listed on the JSE and founded in 1970, WBHO has spent recent years refocusing on its core Southern African and UK markets after a costly retreat from Australia.
What Does WBHO Do?
WBHO builds commercial, residential, industrial and public infrastructure projects, and operates across building construction, civil engineering, roads and earthworks. The group operates through a portfolio of operating brands including WBHO itself in South Africa, Byrne Bros in the United Kingdom, Russell-WBHO, O’Keefe and Roadspan, giving it a diversified base of construction capabilities spanning general contracting, specialist civils work and roads infrastructure across the markets in which it operates.
How Big Is WBHO?
African Business magazine’s Top 250 ranking for 2025 placed WBHO 103rd among Africa’s largest companies by revenue, with turnover of roughly $1.54 billion and a market value of about $697 million. In a company statement in March 2025, WBHO said it was completing approximately R2.5 billion worth of construction work per month, underlining the scale of its ongoing order book across its core geographies.
What Has WBHO Been in the News For Recently?
WBHO’s most consequential recent event was the collapse of its Australian subsidiary, Probuild, which entered administration in February 2022 — one of the largest construction industry failures in Australian history at the time, driven by COVID-19-related cost overruns and contractual disputes on major projects. The collapse forced WBHO to write off its Australian investment, a loss reported in the billions of rand, and the group subsequently exited the Australian market entirely, redirecting its strategic focus back toward its established South African, broader African and UK (via Byrne Bros) operations. In leadership terms, Charles Henwood transitioned from Chief Financial Officer to Chairman of the board in October 2024, with Wolfgang Neff serving as Group Chief Executive Officer.
Is WBHO Publicly Traded?
Yes. WBHO is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange under the ticker WBO and reports interim and annual results in the ordinary course, including segmental performance across its South African, UK and other African operations.
How Old Is WBHO?
WBHO was founded in 1970, giving it more than five decades of operating history, and it has grown through organic expansion and acquisitions (including the historic combination that produced the Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon name) into South Africa’s largest construction company by revenue.
How Does WBHO Compare to Its Competitors?
WBHO’s main South African construction industry peers include Murray & Roberts, Raubex and Aveng, along with the now-liquidated Group Five, whose 2019 collapse removed one of WBHO’s largest historical rivals from the market. WBHO has generally maintained a Level 1 broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) rating for eight consecutive years as of its recent reporting, a factor that matters for eligibility on South African public-sector construction tenders.
How Do I Contact WBHO?
No verified careers page, LinkedIn company URL or public contact email address could be confirmed for WBHO during this research; the company’s main corporate website is www.wbho.co.za.
What Does WBHO’s UK Business Look Like?
Outside South Africa, WBHO’s most significant international operation is in the United Kingdom through Byrne Bros, a specialist concrete frame contractor based in London that has worked on major commercial and residential developments across the UK capital and southeast England. This UK exposure has provided WBHO with a source of earnings diversification away from the South African construction cycle, particularly valuable during periods when domestic public infrastructure spending has slowed or private sector building activity has softened. Coupled with its continued operations elsewhere in Africa, WBHO’s geographic mix — South Africa, other African markets and the UK — has been central to management’s strategy of rebuilding a more resilient earnings base following the costly and reputationally damaging collapse of its former Australian business.
How Has WBHO Managed Risk Since the Probuild Collapse?
Following the reputational and financial damage of the Probuild failure, WBHO’s board and management placed renewed emphasis on contract risk management, tighter control over fixed-price contract exposure, and a more conservative approach to entering new geographic markets. The episode has frequently been cited in South African business media as a cautionary example of the risks large domestic contractors face when expanding into unfamiliar international markets with different labour costs, contracting norms and legal environments, and it contributed to a broader wave of caution among JSE-listed construction companies about offshore expansion in the years that followed.
Links
Website: https://www.wbho.co.za
Careers Page: Not found
LinkedIn: Not found
Email: Not publicly listed
FAQ
Is WBHO the largest construction company in South Africa? Yes, it is widely described as South Africa’s largest construction company by revenue.
Is WBHO publicly traded? Yes, on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange under the ticker WBO.
Who is the CEO of WBHO? Wolfgang Neff serves as Group Chief Executive Officer.
Did WBHO exit Australia? Yes — its Australian subsidiary Probuild collapsed into administration in February 2022, and WBHO subsequently exited the Australian market.
When was WBHO founded? 1970.
How big is WBHO? Roughly $1.54 billion in annual revenue and $697 million market value as of the 2025 African Business Top 250 ranking.