Huge Group’s headline earnings per share (Heps) for the year ended 28 February 2021 will fall by as much as 29.9% after accounting for charges related to share options for its three executive directors.

In February last year, Huge Group shareholders approved the granting of options to CEO James Herbst, chief operating officer Andy Openshaw and chief financial officer Samantha Sequeira.

“IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) requires Huge to create a share-based payment equity reserve equal to the independent calculation of the value of the options and to do so by making non-cash charges in the income statement. These charges are non-cash charges that have no effect on the operating performance of the underlying companies,” the company said.

Huge Group has accounted for a R34.6-million share-based payment expense, meaning the earnings per share (EPS) and Heps numbers are not comparable to last year’s.

To address this, Huge has published normalised EPS and Heps forecasts for its full-year results. While Heps will fall by between 19.4% and 29.9%, normalised Heps will rise by between 5.3% and 21.1%. Normalised EPS will rise by between 0% and 10%, it said.

Explanation

“A comprehensive analysis and explanation of the executive option agreement is provided in the 2020 integrated report … and additional detail will be provided in the 2021 integrated report.”

Huge Group, which is still pursuing an acquisition of fellow JSE-listed technology group Adapt IT, said it expects to publish its results for the financial year ended 28 February 2021 on 31 May. – © 2021 NewsCentral Media