Surge over Altron’s leap of faith
Altron shares closed 4.23percent higher at R20.69 on the JSE yesterday.
The group said that the majority of its operations have shown strong performances for the financial year to end February.
“During the financial year, Netstar (the group’s subsidiary) changed the way it accounts for contract fulfilment costs resulting in an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increase of R189million for the prior year,” the group said.
As a result the group’s overall Ebitda from continuing operations is expected to increase by between 28percent and 35percent.
Altron said for the year to end February it expected its headline earnings per share (Heps) to increase by between 49percent to 62percent, to be between 180 cents a share and 196c, up from last year’s Heps of 121c.
The group’s earnings per share (Eps) are expected to increase by a bigger margin, with the group expecting its Eps to increase by between 264percent to 280percent, to be between 186c and 194c, up markedly from last year’s Eps of 51c.
In the year to end February 2018, the group achieved a double-digit growth in Ebitda from continuing operations of 19percent to R1.11billion, which was driven by exceptional growth in Bytes UK, Bytes Secure Transactions Solutions and Altech Netstar.
It said EZY2C and Phoenix Software acquisitions also contributed to last year’s positive results.
Altron also expects to show a strong growth in its headline earnings for the year, up by between 43percent and 56percent during the period.
The group has also been disposing non-core assets since its chief executive, Mteto Nyati, joined the group in 2017.
“As announced to shareholders on July 26 last year, Altron concluded the disposal of Powertech Transformers.
“The company also concluded the sale of Altech UEC, the last non-core control asset, which became unconditional with effect from January 21.
“The ongoing improvement in the performance of the discontinued businesses against the prior year has contributed to the improvement in both earnings and headline earnings per share for total operations,” the group said.
The group expects to release its results on May 9.
BUSINESS REPORT
Source: iol.co.za
