TRADING STATEMENT
Sugar unit to boost Tongaat earnings
Shareholders in Tongaat Hulett, one of the JSE’s stalwart counters, are set for sweet returns in the year to the end of March after the core sugar division regained its profit flavour. A trading statement issued on Friday showed Tongaat Hulett’s operating profit would increase a hefty 40% to more than R2.3bn, with a 45% jump in headline earnings to R982m pencilled in. This translated into earnings of roughly 853c per share, with headline earnings expected to touch 852c per share. Reassuringly, Tongaat indicated that operating cash flow (after working capital movements) was about R3.2bn — a R1.3bn increase over the previous financial year. Tongaat CEO Peter Staude said the company’s various sugar operations generated operating profit of almost R1.3bn compared with a loss of R15m in the previous financial year. This reflected improved local market prices, more effective import protection dynamics in the countries where Tongaat produced sugar and higher export prices, especially into r...
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