Stable oil prices help Comair increase diluted HEPS more than 80%
Comair, the operator of airline Kulula, reported an increase in diluted headline earnings per share (HEPS) of 83.5% for the year ended-June on Tuesday It attributed the 67c jump in diluted HEPS largely to a stable oil price and nonrecurring losses from oil hedges. Total dividend declared increased to 21c from 16c in the prior period, with profit after taxation increasing 54% to R297m, the company said in a trading statement. Cash generated from operations grew R257m — or 28% — resulting in a cash balance of R935m, a decrease R77m. This followed an investment of R132m in pre-delivery payments towards new aircraft for delivery in 2019, the company said. The exchange rate on a dollar-based aircraft loan was partly reversed as the currency made some headway to R13.044 against the dollar as at June 30 2017, from the low of R14.765 against the dollar a year earlier. This resulted in a profit of R41m in the current period on the loan value of $21.2m, compared to a loss of R74m on the reval...
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