Shares in Alviva Holdings jumped more than 18% in intraday trading on Thursday morning after the ICT distribution group said full-year earnings per share (Heps) are likely to nearly double.

Heps will rise by between 81% and 95% for the year ended 30 June 2021 compared to the same period a year ago, Alviva said in a statement to shareholders on the JSE’s stock exchange news service. The range for Heps will be between R2.71 and R2.91.

Alviva shares were trading 16.4% higher at R14.49/share at 11.27am in Johannesburg, giving it a market capitalisation of R1.7-billion. Earlier in the morning, the shares touched an intraday high of R14.79, up 18.8% on the session, a 12-month high. Since 1 April, the shares have rallied by 190%, making Alviva one of the best performing counters on the JSE.

When it released its interim results on 1 March, Alviva warned the outlook was “uncertain” but said it was confident of generating earnings for the full year that were higher than the 2020 numbers. It’s now clear from Thursday’s trading update that the group has far exceeded those expectations, prompting the share price rally.

Alviva said:

Headline earnings for the year to June 2021 will be in the range of R330-million to R355-million, an increase of between 68% and 80%;
Earnings per share will rose by between 124% and 143% to between R2.53 and R2.74; and
Core earnings per share (adjusted for the amortisation of intangible assets and expenses incurred in acquisitions) will rise by between 57% and 66% to between R3.54 and R3.74.

“Alviva has shown great resilience in recovering from the effects of the lockdown experienced in the prior reporting period and operating in a constrained economic environment throughout the reporting period due to the impact of Covid-19,” the group said.