Altron said on Wednesday that it expects interim headline earnings per share (Heps) for the six months ended 31 August 2017 to be between 16% and 36% higher as a turnaround at the JSE-listed technology group, which own assets such as Bytes and Altech Netstar, takes further root.

The group, which has been led by former MTN South Africa CEO Mteto Nyati since April, when he took the reins from Robbie Venter, said basic earnings per share will be at least 20c, up from 6c a year ago.

On a normalised basis, both earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda is a measure operational performance) and headline earnings in the continuing operations are expected to have grown by more than 10%.

“The normalisation relates to significant once-off restructuring costs in the current period which will reduce overheads going forward, and the results of businesses closed in the prior corresponding period,” it said in a note to shareholders on the JSE’s stock exchange news service.

As in previous reporting period, the financial results for the six months have been split between continuing and discontinued operations. The entire Powertech group, Altech Autopage and Altech Multimedia continue to be classified as discontinued operations for reporting purposes.

Prior to the normalisation adjustments, Heps for continuing operations are expected to be between 13% and 17% lower, while Ebitda will be flat.

For discontinued operations, Heps are expected to be a loss of between 5c and 9c, reflecting an improvement of between 61% and 78% on a year ago.

Altron’s interim results are expected to be announced on 25 October.

The group’s share price was trading at R12.23 at 9.40am on Wednesday, down 2.4% on the session. It has added 109% in the past year on signs that the turnaround strategy is bearing fruit. — (c) 2017 NewsCentral Media