Nampak sees fall in earnings as trading conditions remain tough
Packaging company Nampak said on Monday that it expects a fall in earnings in the half-year to end-March partly due to the weak economy.
The group said in a trading statement on Monday that it expected headline earnings per share for continuing and discontinued operations to fall to 1c during the period from 115c previously. It also expects a loss per share of between 334c and 339.5c from earnings of 107.8c in the comparable period.
Nampak said the earnings have also been affected by factors such as the restatement of financial results in its Zimbabwe business, impairments in the rest of Africa worth R3bn due to worsening market conditions, as well as net devaluation losses amounting to R248m.
The company, which has a market capitalisation of R814m, said earnings for the period were also affected by a net profit from discontinued operations amounting to R470m mainly from the disposal of Nampak Plastics Europe.
The group said it expects headline earnings per share from continuing operations to decrease to between 3.9c and 10.4c in the period from a restated 130c.
Losses per share for continuing operations are expected to be between 406.7c and 413.6c from earnings of 137.4c in the previous period.
The company's share price was flat at R1.18c on Monday while it had lost more than 82% so far this year.