Altron, the technology and engineering group that owns Altech, Bytes and Powertech, warned on Thursday that its headline earnings for the year to end-February 2015 were likely to slump by at least 40% due to “difficult trading conditions”.
Basic earnings per share were likely to be more than 50% lower. It said various impairment reviews would only be concluded closer to the year-end, when it would have a better idea of their impact on the numbers.
In particular, there was a significant reduction in demand from certain key customers, Altron said. It did not say which of its operating divisions had felt the most pain.
“The Altron board has implemented a number of significant remediation initiatives to address these matters, which, together with a further trading statement, will be released in due course…”
The group said it expected to publish its 2015 financial results on 13 May.
At the same time, it cautioned shareholders that it had entered into a “number of discussions and negotiations”, which, if successfully concluded, could have a material effect on price of its shares.
The share price was quoted just after 3pm at R19,89, up by 4,1% on low volumes. However, sellers were in the market at R19,20 and buyers at just R18,01, suggesting it would fall later in the day. – © 2015 NewsCentral Media
