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GijimaAst shares plummet

Nicola Mawson
By Nicola Mawson, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 22 Sep 2006

GijimaAst has told shareholders that it expects its headline earnings for the year to end-June to be lower, while basic earnings are expected to show a reversal of the previous loss.

On Thursday, GijimaAst also told shareholders that it would be buying out the 30% of DTS that it does not already own from Absa.

DTS, until now a joint venture between the two companies, is to declare a R36 million dividend to Absa, after which Absa`s share will be purchased for R44.5 million.

The news saw the market responding negatively, selling the stock down to 60c from the previous day`s close of 62c a share. By 10:30am on Friday, the share was down 6.67% on the day, trading at 56c.

The company, which is finalising its results for the year, told shareholders on Thursday that headline earnings per share are expected to be between 1.5c and 4.5c. Basic earnings per share, for the same period, are expected to improve from a loss to between 1.3 cents and 4.3 cents.

In its 2005 annual results, it reported headline earnings per share of 15.66c and a basic loss per share of 20.54c.

The company said the update was based on a weighted average of 964.7 million shares in issue, compared to the weighted average of 315.6 million shares in issue in the previous year.

"Basic earnings per share and headline earnings per share have been negatively impacted by the significantly higher number of shares in issue, once-off amortisation and impairment charges, and an abnormally high effective tax rate," it said in a statement.

Its results are expected to be out on 27 September.

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