BUILDER-to-automobile leasing group Barlows said on Monday that it has sold 31 of its Federated Timber building materials outlets to a black empowerment company for R56-million. Barlows said that the deal with an arm of the National Association of Black Contractors (Nabcat) will “create the first black-owned builders’ merchant chain in SA” and employ around 1100 people. Barlows said that the disposal was in line with its stated aim of exiting non-core businesses, but it stressed that Federated had remained a profitable operation, despite the tough conditions of the recession-hit building industry.