Johannesburg - International packaging and paper group Mondi’s shares leapt 5 percent after it said in a trading update yesterday that it was expecting improved half-year results to the end of June.
The share rose 5.01 percent to R290.73 on the JSE yesterday.
Mondi is expected to release its half-year results at the beginning of next month.
“It can now be confirmed that underlying operating profit for the half-year ended June 30 is expected to be above that of the comparable prior year period of e490 million (R8 billion),” the group said.
Mondi also advised that it expected the basic underlying earnings per share to be between e0.73 to e0.77 as compared with e0.678 from the corresponding period last year – an increase of between 8 percent and 14 percent.
Basic headline earnings per share are expected to be between e0.73 to e0.77, or 21 percent and 28 percent higher from e0.601 previously.
Last month, Mondi announced that it had agreed to buy 90 percent of shares in Turkey’s Kalenobel for e90m on a debt-and-cash-free basis as it ramped up its consumer packaging footprint.
Mondi, which is also listed in London, said it would buy the stake from private equity group Argus Capital and one of Kalenobel’s founders M Olcay Hephiz. The transaction remained subject to competition clearance and was expected to be completed during the second half of the year.
Ian Cruickshanks, an independent analyst, said: “The trading update by Mondi tells that we must expect results that are in line with market expectations, with headline earnings per share expected to rise by between 21 and 28 percent.
“If they achieve those targets in this difficult sector it will show Mondi is doing something right in this difficult industry to operate in,” he said.
BUSINESS REPORT