Johannesburg – Comair, a franchisee of British Airways
and parent company of low-cost airline Kulula.com, says its bottom line gain
will be higher than initially anticipated.
In a statement issued on Friday, it said earnings per
share should be between 125 percent and 145 percent higher year-on-year for the six months to December.
This places earnings per share at between 40 and 44c a
share.
Headline earnings per share, a key measure of
profitability, are expected to be between 213 percent and 233 percent better at
between 41 and 44c a share.
In the six month to December 2015, the company – which will
report its results on Valentine’s Day, earned 18c in earnings per share, while
headline earnings per share came in at 13.1c.
Earlier this month, the low-cost airline manager said
earnings and headline earnings per share are expected to be at least 20 percent
higher in the 6 months to December.
In the year-ago comparative period, Comair reported
pre-tax profit of R382 million, which translated into earnings per share of
18c. However, this was substantially below the 2015 figure of 37.6c, mostly due
to the weak rand.
In the 6 months to December 2016 headline earnings per
share came in at 13.1c, compared with 37.6c in the 2015 period.
Read also: Stronger
rand benefits Comair
Comair, which in 2016 was involved in a strike, a tussle
over its licence and a challenge from a competitor on its foreign ownership,
explains that its gains are mostly due to the strengthening of the rand against
the dollar.
This resulted in the reversal of unrealised translation
losses on the dollar-denominated aircraft loan amounting to R98 million.
In addition, it said, all loss making open oil hedges had
matured by December 31 and no further hedges were entered into.
Oil has currently stabilised around $54 a barrel.
Comair notes it cannot currently be more specific as to
its figures, but will publish a more detailed statement “in due course”. It did
not indicate when its results will be published, but JSE rules require its
figures are out by the end of March.
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