Technology group Altron said on Thursday that it expects full-year headline earnings per share from continuing operations to rise by between 1% and 7%, while normalised Heps, stripping out once-off costs, will rise by between 14% and 19%.
The main difference between continuing operations and the normalised number relates to about R60m of non-recurring costs relating to restructuring. It said the normalised result provides an accurate picture of core sustainable earnings.
During the year, which ended on 28 February 2018, Altron restructured a number of its core operations. Core businesses had a “satisfactory performance”, while the acquisition of Phoenix Software in the UK, announced last September, “positively contributed” to revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda).
On a normalised basis, the continuing operations’ revenue is expected to increase by between 10% and 12%, while Ebitda is expected to increase by between 14% and 18%.
It said additional shares issued in March 2017 to strategic shareholder Value Capital Partners diluted some performance metrics by about 10%, while a reduction in core debt will not be fully captured in those metrics.
Altron is continuing to dispose of non-core operations. In line with this, Powertech, Altech Multimedia and Altech Autopage continue to be classified as discontinued operations.
It expects to complete the disposal of the remaining discontinued operations as well as CBI Telecom Cables and Altech Multimedia in the current financial year.
“A combination of the disposal of loss-making operations and improved performance out of the remaining discontinued businesses has resulted in the material improvement in both earnings per share and headline earnings per share when compared to the prior year.”
The group will release its full-year results on 10 May. — (c) 2018 NewsCentral Media
