JSE-listed electronics company Reunert's headline earnings per share will be higher when it reports its interim results.
The company yesterday issued a trading update and said, while earnings per share would drop, headline earnings, and normalised headline earnings, per share would improve. Headline earnings per share is considered a key financial measure as it strips out exceptional items.
Reunert says earnings per share for the six months to March will be between 32% and 38% lower, but headline earnings per share will be between 12% and 18% higher, while normalised headline earnings per share will be between 11% and 17% better.
For the first six months of the last financial year, Reunert reported revenue of R5.2 billion, a 2% gain despite its decision to exit the consumer business of Nashua Electronics. Operating profit grew 4%, to R604 million, and profit after tax leapt 97%, to R795 million.
Reunert ended the six months with cash of R1.3 billion, after buying back shares worth R1.1 billion. Its cash base was buoyed by a R794 million injection after it sold out of Nokia Siemens Networks.
In the trading statement, it said the decrease in earnings per share is due to the “abnormal gain” of R346.4 million realised on the sale of its investment in Nokia Siemens Networks South Africa in January 2011.
“This transaction was excluded from the calculation of headline and normalised headline earnings per share in the comparable period in the prior year.”
Reunert is expected to report its results on 28 May.
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