Johannesburg - South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare Holdings reported a 14 percent rise in half-year profit on Thursday as revenue growth in most international markets offset a weak showing at home.
Aspen, which makes only around a quarter of its sales in South Africa, said normalised headline earnings per share (EPS) rose to 655 cents in the six months to end-December, compared with 569 cents a year earlier.
Headline EPS is the main profit measure in South Africa and strips out certain one-off items.
Sales in South Africa fell by 3 percent as the company sold some of its businesses in the highly regulated pharmaceutical market.
Shares in the company, which also operates in Germany, Australia and Venezuela, rose 3.04 percent to R305.34 by 1158 GMT, compared to a 1.52 percent gain by the JSE's benchmark Top-40 index.
REUTERS
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