Johannesburg - Bell Equipment, the listed manufacturer of heavy equipment for the construction and mining sectors, has dismissed the entire management team of its subsidiary in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) plus a number of employees due to fraud.
The group said in a trading update yesterday that an independent forensic investigation was still in progress at the subsidiary. It attributed an expected decrease in group earnings in the six months to June to this fraud and the related deterioration in the financial results of its DRC subsidiary.
The group said its headline earnings a share for the six months to June were expected to be at least 20 percent lower or 21c a share lower than the 101c in the previous year. It said a further trading statement for this reporting period would be released when the company had reasonable certainty regarding the extent of the expected decrease in its results for this period.
The company expects to publish its interim financial results on September 26.
Shares fell 2.44 percent to close at R10.
BUSINESS REPORT