Discovery’s share price falls on waning vitality, investment spend
In a trading update, the group said that for the six months to end December, its normalised headline earnings per share were forecast to decline by between 10 and 15percent to between 330cents a share and 311c.
“The expected difference between normalised profit from operations and normalised headline earnings per share is predominantly due to an increase in finance costs in line with the long-term capital plan and a higher average effective tax rate,” the group said.
Its normalised profits from operations was foreseen to decline by between 5 and 10percent, to be between R3.42billion and R3.61bn, down from last year’s R3.8bn. But VitalityLife’s normalised profits from operations was expected to decline by 145percent.
“VitalityLife was largely impacted by its previously announced strategic decision to mitigate its exposure to further interest rate declines in the UK. In addition, the group has continued its budgeted increased investment into new strategic initiatives,” Discovery said.
Source: iol.co.za