MARC HASENFUSS: Italtile’s lean and mean operating structure
The JSE needs more small-mid cap companies like Italtile, not fewer
The trading statements for companies with financial periods (mostly) ended June have made some interesting, if not depressing, reading over the past fortnight. Trading conditions might be fairly horrendous across most sectors, but the market is not holding back from putting in the boot if earnings fall short of expectations.
My standout update was from ceramics group Italtile, one of the few enduring counters from the late 1980s listings boom. Headline earnings for the year to end-June are pencilled in between 100.7c and 102.6c a share — an increase of between 6% and 8% over the previous financial year. That performance, in the context of brittle trading conditions in the retail and building supplies sector, is highly commendable. It reinforces views around Italtile’s lean and mean operating structure, reliable cash flow management and intimate knowledge of the ceramics market...
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