Altron expects headline earnings per share from continuing operations of between 107c and 112c for the six months to 31 August 2026, up 11% to 17% on the 96c reported a year earlier.

The JSE-listed technology group said in a trading statement on Wednesday that group headline earnings per share, which include discontinued operations, will rise 21-27% to between 105c and 110c. Group earnings per share will climb 41% to 47% to between 93c and 97c.

Those larger group figures owe much to Altron’s exit from Altron Nexus. That business was sold in a management buyout led by Louis du Toit and Reshaad Sha, and has since been rebranded Sentiv.

Group earnings per share fell 6% to 66c in that period, which Altron attributed in part to the Nexus loss. Continuing-operations earnings per share came in at 84c, meaning the discontinued business cost the group 18c a share.

Growth in the underlying business is slower than a year ago, when headline earnings per share from continuing operations rose 22%. Altron lifted continuing-operations headline earnings 34% to 239c in the 2026 financial year, with the second half doing most of the work. Management has said it expects the same pattern to repeat in the 2027 financial year.

JSE listings requirements oblige a company to publish a trading statement once it is reasonably certain earnings will differ by at least 20% from the prior comparative period. Altron’s continuing operations fall below that threshold. It is the group numbers, and therefore the absence of Nexus, that triggered Wednesday’s announcement.

Platforms segment

In a voluntary operational update on 31 August, covering the five months to 31 July, Altron said its platforms segment — Altron FinTech, Netstar and Altron HealthTech — accounted for roughly 45% of revenue but about 95% of operating profit. Group Ebitda, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, and operating profit both rose by low-to-mid-teen percentages in that period.

Altron Digital Business delivered an operating profit against a loss a year earlier, and distribution unit Altron Arrow recorded a positive book-to-bill ratio for the first time in two years. Altron Security was the weak spot, with earnings knocked by the timing of software revenue recognition and constrained enterprise spending.

The group said it remained in a net cash position with an ungeared balance sheet after paying out about R750-million in ordinary and special dividends in June.