Technology group Mustek has reported a stellar, 166.7% jump in headline earnings per share in the six months ended 31 December 2020 on revenue that rose 23.7% to R3.7-billion.
Operating profit rose by 84.6%, while net asset value per share climbed by 14.3% to R17.61, well above Mustek’s R9.99 share price at 11am on Monday shortly after the interim results were released.
“The group had an exceptional trading performance over the six months to December 2020, with our diversified portfolio of products and services providing a clear advantage in the marketplace,” Mustek said.
“Revenue continued the growth trajectory that started during the previous financial year due to surging demand sparked by remote working requirements,” it said.
Revenue growth was across the board, with the group’s two largest segments, Mustek and Rectron, growing their revenue by 22.2% and 23.5% respectively.
Rectron benefited from a surge in demand for its products and the addition of HP printers, Zebra and DJI Enterprise to its range of products during the second half of the 2020 financial year.
‘New normal’
“As an IT-focused business, the Mustek group is ideally placed in an industry likely to benefit highly from the ‘new normal’ that includes working from home and remote learning across the basic education and higher education sectors,” it said.
“Our investments in new product lines such as networking equipment, sustainable energy and fibre are starting to contribute meaningfully to both revenue and profit. The growth in fibre to the home is not only assisting our fibre sales, but also increasing the demand for new devices in order to fully benefit from the faster Internet speeds.
“We have seen a marked increase in the demand for our products since the level-5 lockdown and believe that the device market size is increasing, which bodes well for future replacement cycles. The increased device market size will also drive the demand for new infrastructure to support these devices and will accelerate the growth of the ICT industry over the short and medium term,” it added. — © 2021 NewsCentral Media
