JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African construction firm Basil Read Holdings Ltd said on Thursday it expected to report a 55-75 percent increase in annual earnings per share and headline EPS, boosting its shares 6 percent. The company also said in a statement its order book stood at 6.2 billion rand. Its shares rose as much as 7 percent after the statement, and gained 2.74 percent to 15 rand by 1249 GMT, outpacing a 0.8 percent firmer Johannesburg All-share index. South African construction companies have been somewhat cushioned from the global financial crisis thanks to a government infrastructure push and a slew of building projects linked to the 2010 soccer World Cup. However they have started to report cancelled contracts and slower growth, particularly in the hard-hit mining sector and in the Middle East, where the Gulf building boom is unravelling. Construction and engineering firm Group Five, for example, said on Wednesday it expected a 50 percent rise in first-half earnings but that its business in the Middle East was under pressure. Headline EPS, the main profit gauge in South Africa, strips out certain financial, non-trading and one-off items. | 
